Blighted Light
by GrapieBee
Summary: A hero is someone courageous and empathetic. A hero is someone who will bear their duty to those in need with a smile. A hero is someone who will do what must be done, even if it's painful. A hero is someone who knows the true meaning of sacrifice. By this definition, Link was a hero to a fault.
1. Dreams

There was nothing but heat.

A burning, searing pain that radiated from his core and seemed to snake its way through his veins.

He peeked through half lidded eyes as a swarm of automatons focused their gaze his way, ready to deal their final blow.

He was only just faintly aware that the princess was speaking to him, her tone scared and urgent.

"Link, save yourself, go! I'll be fine, don't worry about me! Run!"

He had to continue. There was no choice.

There had never been any other choice but to continue.

With his last ounce of energy, he straightened his spine, groaning against the pain that threatened to steal him away, willing his body to take the defensive stance he needed it to.

As if on cue, the guardians that had flooded Hyrule Field were on them once more, the red light from their targeting system making him squint as they took aim at his forehead.

Unlike in his memories, there was no cry of "No!" from Zelda as she stepped in front of him. There was no blinding, comforting light of her sealing powers finally coming to fruition.

There was only that red light and a sickening crunch as his skull caved inwards-

Link woke up in a cold sweat as his hand instinctively flew to his forehead, the threads of his nightmare still clinging to him. It took him a long moment to shake those cobwebs from his mind and even longer to steady his breathing.

Once he had, he sat up, pulling at the hem of his sleeping shirt; it had gotten twisted around his form as he had slept and had become uncomfortably tight.

He swung his legs over to the side of the bed and stood, straightening his sleeping pants as well.

Once he had resituated himself, he took a moment to peek through the window of his room. The very first glimmers of the sun had started showing on the horizon. It was still too early for most people of Hateno to be up and about.

Resigning himself to sleeplessness for what little remained of the night, Link lit the candle on his desk as he took a seat, his attention turning to the book that lay there.

It had been just over three weeks since he had fought Calamity Gannon at the castle. Since Zelda had sealed him away.

It had been two weeks since the princess had given him the blank journal that lay in front of him.

It had been exactly a week since he had made his way from Kakariko back to Hateno to assist Purah finalize her preparations for the trek they would be making to Divine Beast Ruta.

And in all that time, Link had failed to so much as open the journal Zelda had gifted him.

Almost guiltily, he pulled the simple leather bound book towards him, opening it up to the first page. He sighed and let his head slump to the desktop, forehead resting on the blank page, letting his thoughts wander.

" _What's this?" He asked, staring at the book the princess had handed him._

" _Link, I would certainly hope you remember what a journal looks like." Zelda answered with a teasing smile on her face._

 _He silently cocked an eyebrow at her response._

" _Oh don't give me that look, I know what you meant. It's a gift."_

 _He looked back down at the book, running his fingers over the cover._

" _I…well, I used to keep one myself you know? I always found it helpful to be able to keep my thoughts somewhere other than in my own head. I thought that, perhaps, you might find something like that useful too."_

 _He didn't need to look up to know she was nervously clasping her hands together._

" _Thank you." He said as he turned his attention back to her, offering a smile._

" _You're quite welcome Link." She said, hands relaxing once more._

With a definitive exhale of air, Link sat back up. Taking one of the never used quills and ink wells the desk had come with, he prepped the quill, determined to make use of Zelda's gift in one way or another.

He stared at the page for a long moment, part of him unsure of even what to do with such a thing.

Slowly, hesitantly, he began to write:

 _ **I don't know what to put here.**_

 _ **Or, maybe I just don't know how to write in something like this?**_

 _ **That's just silly though I think, right? I mean, I am writing in this now, these are the words I am writing. That has got to count for something.**_

 _ **I remember journals being things people use to write their life stories in, but I don't know if there's a good way to tell mine.**_

He took his time re-inking the quill, carefully thinking on what he wanted his next line to be.

 _ **Because there was a 'Before' that I remember so little of and there is the 'Now' that still doesn't make sense most of the time.**_

 _ **Even after being awake for as long as I have, there's still things that I can't remember. Mostly little things.**_

 _ **Like stew?**_

 _ **Why do I know how to make that? Who taught me? Did I teach myself? If so how did I get so good at it? Did I just make it all the time? I may never know.**_

 _ **Some of the blanks in my memories I have been able to fill in on my own.**_

 _ **Like weapons. And armor. And fighting.**_

 _ **I knew those things the moment I woke up. I guess being a knight would give anyone muscle memory for that sort of thing.**_

 _ **But other things-**_

He paused for another moment, cupping his chin in deep thought.

- _ **other things, important things, remain a mystery.**_

 _ **Like Mipha.**_

 _ **I know she loved me. And I know she was important to me too. I remember that much.**_

 _ **But I do not remember what her favorite meal was. Did I ever make stew for her? If so, did she like it?**_

 _ **I do not know if I used to play with her as a child. I don't remember visiting like Sidon said I did so often.**_

 _ **I feel like a should remember these things at the least.**_

His writing slows for a moment at that thought, a frown displacing his normally stoic expression.

 _ **There's this warmth I feel when I imagine her face. When I recall how she spoke so kindly towards me. But I have so little context for why I feel that way. It's confusing. And sad.**_

 _ **I wish I had never remembered her.**_

He stops abruptly, surprised by the curtness of what he had written. He sits back in his chair, _pondering_ the thought.

Did he really wish Mipha had remained forgotten to him?

Even as he considers that possibility further, a tightening in his chest tells him otherwise.

He re-inks his quill once more and sits forward, crossing out what he had written with a definitive line.

 _ **I wish I had never remembered her.**_

 _ **That's not true, I just wish I remembered more about her.**_

 _ **I guess I wish I just remembered more of anything.**_

His eye twinges at the thought of his dream. At the feeling of heat and the sight of a red light blinding him. His body shuddered involuntarily at the memory.

 _ **I take that back too.**_

 _ **I think I could do with fewer memories of some of these fights I have been in. I'm not sure what's changed, but I have had been having some awful dreams since the fight with Gannon.**_

 _ **That never happened when I was traveling…or if it did I may just not remember.**_

 _ **At this point, I would not be surprised if that were the truth.**_

Link stifled a small yawn with the back of his hand as he set aside the quill.

He turned to the window by his bed, surprised to see the soft beginnings of morning light glinting on the glass. He stood and stretched his arms high over his head, groaning in satisfaction as his muscles comfortably pulled against one another.

Purah had told him she wanted to be out of the village bright and early, before too much of the village was up and about. Partly because she did want to get to Kakariko before nightfall. Partly because she had still not come up with a solution to the backfired experiment that had turned her into a child again.

Link knew without asking that this decision had mostly to do with the fact that she had yet to let the people of Hateno know of her situation. 'They would ask too many questions that I just don't have the time to answer Linky!' had been the reasoning she had offered when questioned.

He was quick to make his bed and prepare himself for the long day ahead. As he did a final once over of his home and the bags for the trip as he idly ate through an apple, he found his eyes lingering on his desk.

He swallowed his bite of food slowly as he considered taking the journal with him. Though he had no exact reason for why he might have use for it on the road, Zelda's pleased expression came to mind for just a moment before his decision was made.

Holding the apple between his teeth, he quickly rearranged his pack to accommodate a very securely capped inkwell and journal, a quill tucked safely away in its pages.

Fastening the pack closed, he swung it over his shoulder just as there came a series of knocks on his door.

It was time for him to go.

The trip from Hateno to Kakariko was painless and was done in good time.

Despite Purah's initial displeasure of having to share a horse with Symin due to her diminutive size, she warmed to the situation when Link offered her the Sheikah Slate as entertainment.

She was quite the fan of group photos, and insisted several times that Link and Symin urge their horses closer together so she could get the shot she wanted.

The citizens of Kakariko greeted them warmly when they entered the village, beds waiting for them at the inn and a large pot of pumpkin soup being enjoyed by everyone in the community.

Koko, the eldest of Dorian's daughters, had all but pulled Link down to her level to share the secrets of her new and improved soup everyone was enjoying,

"Lots of Hyrule Herb and some honey Link! That's my secret. Koko didn't even get stung by the bees, not even a little!"

Link's compliment of her cooking earned him a beaming grin from the young girl as she scampered away to continue playing tag with her sister. He stood from his crouched position as he watched them go, pleased to see them get the chance to play together.

"Hello Link."

He all but spun on his heels at the sound of the princess' voice. She was dressed in the traditional Sheikah garb, hair pulled into a large bun like so many others of the village. The comfortable look suited her, just as her regal blue gown had so many years prior.

Muscle memory took hold of him as he silently bowed in greeting.

"Oh please, none of that." She responded with a smile and wave of a hand.

"Sorry, old habit I guess?" He said as he straightened his back.

"No need to apologize. Now, tell me, how was the trip from Hateno? Purah was just telling me how you charged her as what she called the 'Official Trip Memento Keeper'? Do tell me, what does that job entail?"

Link couldn't help the small shake of his head as he chuckled.

"I think professional photographer would be a better word for it honestly. Here." He answered, removing the Sheikah Slate from his hip, pulled up the photo section, and handed it to her.

She perused the photos with rapt interest, smiling all the while.

"She certainly has an eye for framing. I am impressed she was able to get all of you in a single shot while on horseback." She said, making to return the slate.

Link held his hand up to stop her.

"Purah's already had a chance to fix the glitches you noticed after the battle with the Calamity. It was yours to begin with, you should have it back." His statement was simple but firm as he undid the holster from his belt, holding it out for her to take.

Zelda's expression was unreadable for a moment as she stared at the offering.

"Are you certain Link? It…it was never truly meant for the Princess and I could never get it to work for me at the shrines, as I'm sure you recall. And really, you must be so use to it being with you, I am quite sure it should remain-"

"Princess," he chanced the possibility of being rude by interrupting her, "it was only ever a tool to defeat Calamity Ganon for me. The beast is gone now and so is my reason to use it. I think this will be in much better hands with you."

Her eyes met his and her features, which had slowly begun to give way to worry as she spoke, softened into a smile once more.

"Alright then, but only because you insist. Thank you." She said, taking the holster from his hand gently.

The community dinner continued well into the late hours of the night. Knowing they had another early start the next day, Link, Purah, Symin and Zelda retired even earlier then Lady Impa, who was oft poked fun of for her early bed time. Of course, she was just as likely to poke fun back with a smart one liner and a grin, all in the name of good fun.

The next morning came and went. With it, the four travelers said their farewells to Kakariko and started on the road to Zora's Domain.

Purah had decided, thankfully before they set out, that she would rather ride with Zelda, giving both women the chance to excitedly talk about ancient technologies as they continued their trek.

By late morning on the third day of their travel, they were at the figurative doorsteps of Zora's Domain, the crystal blue archways welcoming them.

It wasn't before long that they were greeted with an energetic cry of,

"Hello, hello dear friend! Up here!"

Link craned his neck upwards just in time to see a red blur falling towards them.

The horses whinnied and flicked their ears in an irritated manner as the Zora landed gracefully in front of them.

"Link! My goodness is it wonderful to see you again!" As energetic as the first moment they had met, Sidon greeted Link with a smile and a handshake.

"Likewise, Sidon." Link said, with a smile of his own. The prince's energy was just plain contagious.

"Please, I must say there is no time to dally, my father is eager to see all of you! Come with me." He said, leading the party down the long bridge.

After the proper introductions were made, with a certain amount of pomp and circumstance with the introduction of the Zelda to the King of the Domain, they immediately got to work.

The most immediate, and biggest, obstacle they came across was how to board the Divine Beast.

It stood on the mountain top, just as Link had seen it last: Trunk curling upwards to its forehead, tusks still aimed directly at the ruins of Hyrule Castle. What differed this time was the eerie stillness of the giant, the runes covering its body grey and lifeless, its four legs compressed under its immense weight, the soft churning of ancient machinery silent.

Even with its legs shortened, the height from the ground to its main body was still impressive.

"Well, this is certainly an issue." Symin had been the first to speak, unanimously voicing the thought in everyone's mind.

"I have an idea." Link said after a beat of silence, swinging the pack off his back.

He dug around for a moment before he found what he had been searching for. Pulling out his Climber's Bandana and a long, sturdy piece of rope, he closed his pack and set it aside.

"What'cha thinking Linky?" Purah asked, adjusting her glasses.

"Well, I'll have to climb the body first. Once up there, I should be able to rig the rope to pull everyone up one by one." He answered as he tied the bandana around his head.

Once done, he turned to Vah Ruta with every intention of climbing it…

But instead found himself in the middle of chewing on what he recognized as a piece of bread.

He swallowed his food with some difficulty, his suddenly dry. He looks around the room slowly, trying to decipher exactly where he was.

A glance at his surroundings told him he is back in the main hub of Zora's Domain, seated at a table heavy with delicious looking food with Zelda, Purah, and Symin excitedly discussing Ruta's interior workings amongst each other. His ears catch the sound of Sidon's voice to his right, part way through recounting a story to Link.

Hadn't they just been near at the Divine Beat? How had they gotten back here?

Link took another bite of bread as his skin turned cold from panic, trying his best to not let his concern show. He could figure this out, he just needed a chance to-

"Link, are you quite alright? You look pale all of the sudden."

He was startled by the sound of a quiet voice and was greeted by the concerned frown of Sidon when he turned his attention to it.

It took everything he had in his power to keep his panic from showing on his face as he forced a smile and nodded.

"Yes, just lost in thought and good food." He did not give the prince an opportunity to probe further as he dug back into his food, doing his best to ignore the nausea his panic had forced into his stomach.

It was not long afterwards that he excused himself from the table, his plate empty and stomach uncomfortably full.

He knew his sudden departure was not unnoticed by the others at the table, he could practically feel their eyes on him as he left.

His thoughts swam as he made his leave of the private dinning room, doing his best to politely greet the Zora's he passed on his way. He was thankful that he recognized where he was and made the trip back to his room quickly.

Once behind the safety of his room's door, he slumped a shoulder against it, letting out a ragged breath he had not known he was holding in.

He breathed deeply, arms wrapped around himself as he sunk to the floor.

What in the world had happened?

Stealing a quick look out the window of the room, the final rays of day light left the sky in a beautiful gradient of colors, a fact that did nothing to calm Link's confusion and concern.

It had just been afternoon, hadn't it? Where had the day gone?

Link unwrapped his arms from his torso and shifted his weight so that his back could rest flush against the door. He folded his hands in his lap, still breathing deeply, and let each passing moment calm him further.

He could figure this out, he just had to think. He just had to be calm.

He was not given a further moment to ponder his situation when a gentle knock on the door startled him.

"Link, are you there? It's me, Sidon, your dear friend!"

He felt the knot in his stomach loosen slightly. There was that infallible enthusiasm again.

As he stood to open the door, there was another gentle knock.

"My friend, you _are_ in there, rig-"

Whatever else the prince had to say was cut off as Link swung the door open.

"Oh wonderful, this _is_ where you went. May I come in?"

Link nodded, stepped away from the door way and allowed the prince to enter. Once the Zora was in, Link closed the door behind him with a soft click.

"My friend, what is it that troubles you?"

Sidon, Link thought, had the making of being a great king. He took on his duties with an enthusiasm and forwardness unlike any other. He was personable and well loved by his people. But, most of all, his genuine care showed in everything he did.

"There's nothing troubling me, I'm just tired."

Link, knowing what he did about the prince, did not want to trouble him further. The Zora was so good natured, he was certain he would no doubt go above and beyond any duty he had to Link. No, he wouldn't mention what had really caused him to leave until he knew it was something _worth_ being concerned about.

Sidon opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it once more as he spoke:

"Miss Purah made mention that you did not say a single word while aboard Vah Ruta today. I know you regained some memories of my late sister when you first visited here. Perhaps you have remembered even more in your time away, I do not know. But, if I may be bold, let me say this: my people and I have had the last one hundred years to grieve for her. You were not given such a luxury before being tasked with purging Mipha's resting place of Ganon's influence. If being in Vah Ruta again is too much, you need only say so. No one would blame you."

Oh. _Oh_.

As Link soaked in the implications of what Sidon had said, he shook his head and made his way to sit on the bed.

"I...I appreciate your concern, I do. But, truly, I _have_ been tired today." While not the whole truth for him leaving the dinner table in a rush, Link could not ignore the exhaustion his body felt. "For now," he continued, "I just need a good night's rest with a fully belly. The meal was delicious, I feel I should thank the cook when I get the chance." He said as he patted his stomach.

Sidon's eyes bore into him for a long moment before he flashed him his characteristic smile once more.

"I am very glad to hear this, my friend. Please, though, should you still feel weary or tired tomorrow, do not hesitate to visit the infirmary. Our healers are known to be some of the best in Hyrule and will help you if you need it. I will let them know you may need to stop by during your visit!"

"I appreciate that, thank you."

Sidon left shortly after, leaving Link to his rest. With the prince gone, Link's expression shifted into a frown as he turned his thoughts back to his situation as he began undressing for bed.

He had been in Vah Ruta all day and had not said anything. He figured it was better to know what he had done with his day then to have remain a complete mystery. But, having to learn such simple information second hand _was_ troubling. He had only been gaining memories since he had awoken in the Shrine of Resurrection, he'd never had a gap for something that had _just_ happened.

Perhaps it was another unknown side effect of the shrine?

Link nodded to himself definitively, satisfied with that reasoning.

While still a concerning idea to mull over, it was concrete enough to finally calm the panic that had been clinging to him.

He crawled into bed with a sigh and rested his head on the pillow there. In a matter of minutes, he was fast aslee-

The air smelled foul and stagnant as he and Calamity Ganon fell through the floor of the Sanctum.

Quick thinking had him instinctively pulling out the paraglider, slowing his descent considerably. He was already on the defense as his feet touched the ground, pulling the Master Sword from its sheath and his shield to his chest as the beast turned its attention towards him.

The battle was the most intense Link had ever been a part of. Calamity Ganon's body moved in grotesque and unnatural ways that were hard to predict, but Link stood his ground. Movement for movement, hit by hit, Link kept up with the Beast, slowly cutting away at its health.

He was beginning to learn its tricks, starting to recognize what its movement hinted at, when something grabbed at his ankles.

Chancing a look, Link glanced down, freezing at what he saw.

From the black mass of Blight that encased parts of the room, two slender arms reached for him, the small hands holding his ankle in a vice grip. A face stared up at him from the muck, the face painfully familiar.

"Where did you go Link? Why did you let me die?" Mipha's normally sweet voice was twisted with malice and hatred; it was painful for him to even hear.

It was only a moment later that a blade plunged through Link's abdomen, skewering him like a fish.

He watched in silent horror as the glowing blue light from Ganon's blade twisted in his gut, the pain so great that his scream caught in his throat, effectively knocking the wind out of him.

Ganon's face twisted into something that might be called a smile as it yanks the blade to the left, an inhuman cackle bursting from it as Link felt his guts violently tumble out of the gaping maw of a wound, splattering on the floor with a sickening-

He awoke in a cold sweat, his hand flying to his abdomen, putting pressure on the wound he was so certain was there. His breathing was heavy and ragged as residual pain radiated from where his hand pressed.

He raised the hem of his shirt, exposing his stomach as he looked down, heart beating painfully against his ribcage. He expected to see something, anything, the pain had been so real, too real.

But no, there was no blood, no organs spilling from him, no wound what so ever.

He swallowed hard and took deep breaths as he lay himself back down on the bed. He pressed a palm over his eyes, his temples pounding in tandem with his heart as he began the process of calming himself.

While his previous nightmares had been unpleasant, this had taken it to a level he had not yet experienced and hoped he never would again. His senses had played some sort of awful trick on him; that pain had seemed so real, too real, for his liking.

It took Link a long time to calm his body from the dream. Even when his heart had slowed to its normal cadence and his body had stopped sweating, his head continued to stubbornly pound to a painful rhythm.

He pulled his palm away from his face and sat up, the motion making his vision swim for a moment.

'Wonderful.' He thought to himself, dryly.

He chanced standing up, pleased to find that the action did not make him feel any worse. As he looked out the single window of his room, he saw that the sun had already begun its climb into the sky. With another deep breath, he decided he should take Sidon's recommendation and visit the infirmary. He had no desire to try and tolerate the pounding in his temples for an entire day if he didn't need to.

He was quick to change out of his sleeping tunic and into his day clothes, leaving the room shortly after.

It was still early enough in the morning that only a few of the Zora were up and about and, for a moment, he worried it might be too early for the healers to even be present at their posts.

He had to stop once to get directions, the older Zora he asked was polite, but to the point, and he found himself to the location in no time.

As he approached the counter he had been directed to, the young Zora woman who sat there did a quick but noticeable double take.

"Oh, oh my goodness, good morning Master Link!" she said as he approached, standing up, "Prince Sidon told us you might be stopping by during your visit, I had no idea it would be so soon! How can I help you?"

"Uh, well, I just woke up with a headache and-"

"Ah, oh my, I'm so sorry, I forgot! S-since this is your first time visiting us, I'm required to do a general assessment of your health. S-so we have a base-line for you in our records. Oh my, how could I have almost forgotten." She hurriedly explains, muttering the last of her statement to herself.

"That's fine. Does the assessment take long?"

She shook her head, wringing her hands together.

"Only takes a few m-minutes, if you'll just follow me, please."

She led him behind the desk she had been sitting behind and down a long, elegantly decorated hallway lined with doors every fifteen feet or so. After forty feet or so, the healer turned to a door and knocked on it, opening it only when no response came.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry Master Link, I never did introduce myself, did I?" the Zora woman asked as she gently closed the door behind them.

He shook his head in response, trying his best to ignore the pounding in his temples.

I'm Lundie, lovely to meet you. I'm so sorry, I must seem so scattered brain to you. It's only my second w-week doing practicals and I'm just still so nervous all the time and, oh no, there I go rambling again-"

"It's ok." He says simply, shooting her a smile.

He can hear her take a deep breath before continuing.

"Thank you again for your patience with me. N-now, like I said earlier, this assessment should be quick. T-to start, please remove your tunic, I'm required to document any previous injuries and corresponding scars for our records."

Link nodded and turned away from her, listening as she continued to go into detail about what the rest of the assessment would entail.

Lundie's chatter stopped mid-sentence as Link finished removing his tunic, blowing his hair out of his eyes as he does so.

He turned his head towards her, noticing immediately the look of almost horror that graced her features. Link knew he had his fair share of battle scars, some of them vicious looking, but surely it was nothing to warrant such an expression.

"M-Master Link, happened to your back?" she asked in a hushed tone, her hand rising to cover her mouth.

Link could not help the confused look that crossed his face.

"You mean my shoulder?" He turned his body fully to face her, gesturing to the large burn mark that had permanently pinkened the skin on his right side. A hazy memory reminded him that it had been from a kitchen accident as a child, not the battlefield.

She shook her head, her mouth opening and closing silently.

"My side?" He questioned further, raising arm to further show a large scar encompassing the right side of his torso, the center puckered and red. That, unfortunately, he remembered vividly receiving from one of the Guardian Stalkers while protecting Zelda when Calamity Ganon had first awoken.

"N-no, I mean your back, y-your neck, there's a-"

She cuts herself off mid-sentence again and makes a hand gesture ushering him to turn around. He obliged, a small stone of worry sinking into the pit of his stomach as he does so.

He listened as she shuffled closer to him and jumped slightly in surprise when her fingers prodded at a spot just below the nape of his neck.

"Did that hurt?" She asked, her hand retracting at his reaction.

He shook his head in response, this time prepared when her fingers continued gently pressing against his skin.

"What's there?" He asked after a beat of silence.

There's a long moment before he gets an answer.

"It looks like…like black lightning? Oh, I know that must sound odd." She says, muttering the last part under her breath as she moved away from him.

He only had a moment to wonder what she was doing when he finds her passing him a mirror, nearly identical one in her own hand.

"L-let me just show you." She says, holding her mirror to face his neck.

He spends a second angling his own mirror as best he can to catch the reflection from the one in Lundie's hands.

What he saw turned the stone in his stomach into a boulder of a knot.

Where her fingers had prodded at was a viciously dark spot on his skin, no bigger than the size of a rupee. What had caused her shock, though, wasn't the spot itself, but the skin surrounding it.

Just as she had described, black lines radiated from the mark, as jagged and irregular as bolts of lightning.

Instinctively, he reached his hand back to touch it, pressing his fingers along the dark lines. The skin there was raised, just ever so slightly, and felt cool to the touch. Pressing down harder yielded no feeling on the affected skin; no pain, no sensitivity, nothing.

After another moment of observation, he lowered the mirror and faced Lundie, hand still on the back of his neck.

"I've not seen anything like that before. I-please wait here Master Link, let get one of my elders." Link watched as she left the room in a hurry, mirror still clutched in her hands.

Lowering his hand from his neck, he carefully placed his mirror on the nearby table. His brow furrowed as he wracked his brain, trying to remember if anything he had done recently would explain the mark.

There had been no injury in the last few days he could think of that would have any effect on that area.

He _had_ fallen out of a tree in Hateno helping local children collect apples for their mother, just the day before he had left. But that couldn't be it, he had fallen right on his rump.

He thought back farther.

Perhaps it was something that had happened before his fight with Ganon? No, that couldn't be it either though. The Hylian armor he had favored most often during his travels would not allow for something to injure that spot on his neck.

Link raised his hand and traced the lightning pattern with his fingers once more. He should be able to remember something like this happening…

As if his frustration were a piece of struck flint next to a pile of dry wood, an ember of a memory roared into a fire and his thoughts turned to his battle with Calamity Ganon.

 _The heat from the Malice that rolled off the foul beast was almost unbearable. Its cries were unlike anything he had ever heard before: loud and terrible enough to vibrate the very bones of his chest. He could not blame his horse, Belphia, for pawing nervously at the ground. He could not blame himself for the slight shake of his hands or the almost too tight grip he had on the reins._

 _But he must continue. There was no choice._

 _There had never been any other choice but to continue._

 _He spurred his horse into action, his heart beating in time with the thundering of her hooves._

 _With Zelda's voice ringing in his ears, he took aim with the bow she had bestowed him, hitting the beast again and again with arrows made of holy light._

 _The beast let loose another cry and, with speed Link did not expect from something of its size, swung its head towards him and his steed._

 _In a split-second decision, Link urged his horse to go faster, faster than he had ever asked of her before, and lay his upper body flush with her neck. The quickness of his actions paid off as, not a moment later, the tusks of the giant swung just overhead. The heat of its Malice was so close it felt as if it had burnt the back of his neck or might catch the collar of his Champion's tunic ablaze._

 _Link paid no mind to that small pain as they pulled away, his eyes focusing back on the beast's weak points, drawing the bow once more as his horse galloped forward-_

His thoughts came to a screeching halt and his hand clenched around the back of his neck as realization dawned on him. He had a sinking suspicion as to where he got that mark from.

He was not given long to fight the rising panic he felt as he caught the sound of approaching footsteps.

As was oft to happen, Link's muscle memory took over for him when he drew a blank as to how to behave. He found his face forcing its expression into something unreadable and his hand removed itself from his neck just as Lundie walked back in.

She was followed by a considerably older female Zora, her old age showing itself in her hunched shoulders, bowed knees, and deep wrinkles.

"Madame Meeda, this is Mas-"

The elder of the two waved her hand dismissively, a kind smile on her face.

"This young man need not be introduced my dear, I know who he is."

Link studied her face, searching for anything that might tell him if he had once known her.

"Lundie here tells me you have a mark on your neck she's not sure how to identify. Would you mind turning around for me, Master Link?"

He obliged her request with a silent nod, face forcibly stoic.

Her hands, while less gentle then Lundie's hand been, had a certainty to their movements that would have only come to her with years of practice.

"Well," she began after a solid half minute of examination, "I have certainly seen this before."

She removed her hands, sighing as she did so.

Link turned to face the two healers as he reached for his shirt and, slipping it back over his head, covered the offending mark.

"I'm sorry to say this, Champion, but this does not bode well for you."

Link swallowed dryly, bracing himself for what she would tell him.


	2. Waiting

Zelda sat alone in the private dining room allotted to her and her travel companions. Purah and Symin had already headed out to Vah Ruta, wanting to get as early a start as possible. Thanks to the pulley system Link had rigged for them yesterday, it had become quite easy to scale the giant machine.

As she absent-mindedly cut her food into smaller and smaller pieces, she found her thoughts drifting to the conversation they had in that very same room not but hours prior.

" _You know, he has been quiet since we boarded the Divine Beast. I mean, more than he normally is." Symin had chimed in, moments after Link had excused himself and left the dining room._

" _Now that you mention it, I'm not sure if he said anything all afternoon." Purah quipped, adjusting her glasses._

" _I will make sure to check in with him as I make my evening rounds. Excuse me." Sidon stood, making his way to the door._

" _Shall we come with you Prince Sidon?" Zelda offered, already raising herself from her seat._

" _Oh no, please stay and enjoy your meal, I insist!" The Prince flashed his signature grin as he answered, bowing deeply to Princess Zelda as he departed._

 _The silence that followed his leave was tense, the sound of knives and forks clinking on plates being the only thing to disturb it for several minutes._

" _You know," Purah began, "maybe we didn't approach this in the best manner the we_ _ **could**_ _have."_

 _Zelda set her cutlery down and turned her attention to the small woman._

" _We, all three of us, were just so excited to see the inside of Vah Ruta, to begin trying to figure out how to get her up and running again. But she's not just a machine or some fun experiment for us to research. I mean, Champion Mipha met her end there. I would imagine that for some, Vah Ruta is more like a tomb then it is a Divine Beast. You know?"_

" _You think that's why Link was so quiet today?" Symin questioned, leaning back in his seat._

" _I wouldn't be surprised and I certainly wouldn't blame him if that were the case. If I recall correctly, they were close when she was alive, weren't they Princess?"_

 _Zelda nodded, only half listening. She had been so sure she had gotten him to open up a little to her over the weeks since Calamity's demise. Perhaps she had been reading too much into the small conversations they shared or his acceptance of the journal._

 _If being in the Divine Beast was hard on him, she hoped he would have said something about it. To her at least._

It was then that Zelda's thoughts were interrupted as Link slipped through the door of the private dining room. He sat himself at the seat directly across from the Princess, immediately piling his plate full of food from the platters in front of him.

He did not say a word as he did this, nor did he seem to even acknowledge that anyone else was in the room.

"Well, while I do feel that it may be getting late for a 'Good Morning', a simple 'Hello' would certainly be nice." Zelda said, taking a bite of her breakfast.

His eyes snapped up at the sound of her voice and he gave her a sheepish smile as he responded.

"I apologize Princess, I didn't mean to be rude. Good morning."

She cringed internally at the snark in her comment; it hadn't sounded so rude in her head.

"Good morning to you too. I'm glad to see you finally up and about, I hope you slept well last night?"

Link chewed on a piece of bread, not answering her. He stared as his plate, eyes unseeing, mouth drawn into a thin line, his expression unreadable.

"Link, did you hear me?"

His focus again snapped to her direction, another sheepish grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as he apologized once more. Seeing it a second time, Zelda could tell that the grin was forced.

She pointedly sat back in her seat, locking eyes with him.

"Link, my social skills may be rusty, but I can see that something is bothering you. You left dinner in such a hurry last night and almost missed breakfast completely today. Please, tell me, what is the matter?"

Link held her stare, pushing his still full plate of food away from himself. The look on his face, normally so neutral, seemed strained to remain so.

"Link, please. No one can help you if you don't speak your mind." She probed, hoping to break his silence.

Another beat, and then-

"I made a trip to the infirmary this morning." He began, his voice almost a whisper. "I woke up with a headache and figured I should stop in to see if they had anything that could help it."

He paused for a long moment, crossing his arms before he continued.

"During the initial examination, they found something and…"

Zelda felt a coldness settle in the pit of her stomach as he paused once more. Eyes still locked on one another, she watched as something slowly creeped into his expression. She had never, in all the time she had known him, seen fear on his face before.

"I was told I'm dying, Princess."

"Lundie, might I ask a favor of you my dear?" Meeda said, turning to the younger Zora.

"O-of course Madame Meeda."

"I had a routine check-up scheduled this morning. The patient should be arriving in a few minutes, would you be willing to take the appointment over for me while I discuss treatment with Link?"

"Yes, _absolutely_ , thank you so much for the opportunity ma'am! I will not let you down!" Lundie left the room in an excited hurry, closing the door behind her with perhaps a little too much force.

"Ah, to be young and energetic." Meeda mused aloud, taking a seat in one of the three chairs in the room.

"You are certainly welcome to remain standing, but you may find yourself more comfortable if you took a seat, Champion." She gestured to the plush chair directly across from her. Link took the invitation and sat down, attention still focused on her.

"As I said, I _have_ seen markings like that before and no good news has ever come with them. I first saw this over one hundred years ago, just after the Calamity had happened."

She paused, took a deep breath, and began:

"I was in Castle Town the day Ganon awoke, had just arrived to take on an apprenticeship at the castle. I saw the ground cave under peoples' feet, saw the sky turn that terrible mix of red and black. I saw it and I survived, miraculously unscathed. Others who escaped that carnage, however, were not nearly so lucky."

Though over one hundred years had passed, Link could see that the story was still painful for her to recount.

"I recall seeing people covered in the black muck Calamity Ganon had thrown everywhere during its awakening. Some even had to be pulled from it, it was so thick in places. Those touched by that Malice would later find that part of its darkness stayed on them, regardless of the ointments and medicine they tried." She paused once more and took a deep, calming breath.

"In the weeks that followed, a sickness broke out amongst the survivors of Castle Town and the surrounding settlements. It went by many titles; the Mark, the Calamity Death, Dead Lightning…though the Blight was the most common name for it. It did the same thing, time and time again, regardless of what you called it. Tell me Champion, when you fought that beast in the castle, do you remember if it ever touched your bare skin?"

Link saw the fight so clearly in his mind - _so close it felt as if it had burnt the back of his neck-_ and slowly nodded.

"That's what I thought." Meeda sighed, clasping her hands together.

"What will happen to me?"

The look she gave him was not one he could remember ever receiving before. Her features had softened at his question and her eyes had filled with something akin to pity.

"Link, you don't seem the sort to beat around the bush, but as a professional in my field, there is a certain amount of bed-side manner expected of me. With that in mind, it is my duty to ask: do you want the truth, brutal as it is, of what will happen to you in the coming weeks? Or do you wish me to keep the specifics sparse and only provide treatment recommendations?"

He shook his head before she had even finished, "No, please, tell me the truth. I would rather know then be in the dark on something like this."

"Honesty is the best policy or so I've heard." She said, chuckling.

Despite the knot in his stomach, a smile pulled the corners of his mouth at her comment before she continued.

"At its height, when there were still consistent reports of this phenomenon happening, it was noted that anyone who had come into direct skin contact with Calamity Ganon's Malice all met their death because of it. Even to this day, no survivors of the condition can be found in any written record. The symptoms in those reports were described as cruel and unwavering to those inflicted."

She cleared her throat, waving a hand in apology for the interruption.

"Victims reported hearing and seeing things that no one else could. They suffered from nightmares that felt real. Self-destructive behavior became common in those effected during the later stages of the illness. Time and time again, it destroyed its victims from the inside out. Once it drives its host almost mad, it turns their very body into Malice and begins its search for a new host."

Link stared at a spot just beyond Meeda's left shoulder and tried his best to absorb what she said.

So then, this would be the death of him? Just like that?

No. He had to continue. There was no choice.

There had never been any other choice but to continue.

With a forceful exhalation of air through his nose, he focused back on the Zora.

"You said there's no written record of someone surviving this, right?"

She nodded slowly, a confused look on her face.

"Well, I guess I have no choice but to be the first then."

The old Zora stared at him for a moment at the audacity of his comment before her features bunch together in a hearty laugh.

"Truthful, persistent, and optimistic; it's no wonder Princess Mipha loved you dearly." She stood and gestured for him to stand as well, making her way to the door.

"I won't keep you longer then I have to. There are a handful of potions I can provide you that will help slow the spread of that mark. I'll make as many as I can with the ingredients we have on hand, so you can begin taking them as soon as possible."

"How long will that take?" Link questioned, holding open the door for the healer.

"In a pinch, I could have them whipped up and ready to go by late afternoon, early evening at the latest." She said, leading the way back down the winding hall.

"I imagine, you have somewhere you'd want to head to as soon as possible?"

He responded with an affirmative grunt, already formulating a plan as they walked.

"Well, I'll make it a point to have those elixirs ready sooner rather than later. I'll also give you instructions to make more on your own, should it come it that." She said, stopping as they had reached the welcome desk once more.

"Thank you. I'm afraid I left my rupees in my room, I'll have to pay when I stop by lat-"

She waved her hand, as if trying to dissipate his words from the very air.

"Don't worry about that. Just stay focused on being as well as you can. Now, before you go on your way, there is one last bit of information I am required to give you: your diagnosis today is yours and yours alone to tell others about. Anyone you spoke to today took the same oath when they chose their profession. Under that oath, you have a right to your privacy, and no one will divulge why you were here."

She paused as she folded her hands together.

"However, I will say with a certain frankness that this illness…the symptoms are not something that can be hidden forever. If I found myself in your situation, I would tell those who needed to know as soon as I was able."

Link nodded in acknowledgement of her suggestion and made his departure.

Despite the calmness he had managed to maintain in front of Meeda, the knot in his stomach had only tightened as she had spoken. His headache, still present, had calmed into a gentle throb as he aimlessly walked, trying to keep his thoughts straight.

He was going to die. He was going to _die_ …but that didn't mean he couldn't try to fight against the odds. If the mark had been given to him from Ganon, perhaps the Princess' sealing power might do something-

" _I can no longer hear the voice inside the sword. I suppose it would make sense if my power had dwindled over the past one hundred years…I'm surprise to admit it…but I can accept that."_

He stopped, his thoughts turning to what Zelda had told him. He thought back to the memories he had as she had tried time and time again to awaken that power in the first place. How much she had blamed herself for the fall of the Hyrule, for the destruction of the castle, as if it had been something she had personally done.

No, perhaps for now he should try another avenue. The Springs of the Goddesses, three of the most sacred places in Hyrule, would be his starting point.

It was at that moment his stomach growled, reminding him that he had yet to eat.

Still deep in thought, he made his way to the dining room, set on getting some food into his stomach.

"P-pardon?" Zelda asked, unable to conceal the confusion in her voice.

"Ah, sorry. Let me start again," Link said, "I wasn't feeling well last night, that's why I excused myself from dinner. Prince Sidon recommended that, should I still not feel better come morning, to visit the Zora healers. I did and when I was examined they found this _thing_ on my neck."

At that point, he turned his back to the Princess and gently pulled the collar of his tunic down far enough for her to see the mark Ganon's Malice had left on him.

"Oh...oh Link, what _is_ that?" Zelda asked, eyes fixated on the black lines snaking across his skin.

He let his collar go, gave it a little tug forward to make sure the mark was covered once more, and turned back to her.

"I was told it was an illness contracted by survivors from Castle Town when Calamity Ganon awoke. People touched by its Malice were marked by it, just like on my neck."

"Well, what were you advised on for treatment?"

A pained look crossed his features for just a second and Zelda's stomach sank deeper.

"Princess-"

"I'm certain there's something that can be done for it. I mean, it has been a hundred years now, surely a cure has been devised." She knew she had interrupted him, just as she knew his pained look could only mean one thing.

"Princess, I was told that there isn't-"

"Perhaps if the methods for recovery are unpleasant, I might be able to do some research on my own to see what can be done to remedy that-"

" _Zelda_."

It wasn't just the sound of her name on his tongue that stopped her cold. His tone, curt and laced with what she thought might be desperation, was not something she would have ever expected from him.

She pointedly stared at the woodgrain of the table, willing the tightness in her chest to loosen, for her palms to stop sweating.

"Tell me Link, _is_ there a treatment for it? Is there anything that can cure you?" she eventually asked, voice just above a whisper.

Silence was his only answer and it was all she needed.

"W-well," she began again, silently cursing herself for the way the word caught in her throat, "there has to be something that can be tried at least?"

"Yes. The healer I spoke with, Madame Meeda, is preparing several elixirs for me to slow it from spreading."

"What will you do next?" she asked, eyes still fixed on the table

"I plan to seek an audience with the King before the day is done, to explain my situation to him and Prince Sidon. Once Meeda has finished making those potions, I will leave Zora's Domain and head to the three Springs of the Goddesses. This mark was made by something evil, perhaps I can find a cure somewhere holy."

"Well, I will be sure to begin packing my belongings when I get back to my room. Does your plan involve a stop back to Kakariko? I would very much like to drop off the notes about Vah Ruta I have compiled before trying to trek up Mount Lanayru. I would hate to see them get damaged on the trip."

The silence that followed her statement did not sit well with her.

"Link, you don't mean to do this alone, do you?" She said, finally turning her gaze to him.

"Only I need to leave, Princess. You are still needed here. You, Purah, and Symin are still needed here to help with the Divine Beast."

"Link, you can't seriously believe that I would sit idly by without argument over something like this! We have made trips to each of those springs before, I know how to traverse those landscapes."

'Granted,' she admitted silently to herself, 'those trips were over a century ago. There's no telling what time has done to those places.'

"I remember the trip to the Spring of Power, I know you could handle the trip just fine. But that's not my concern. Please, let me leave on my own, our group has only just arrived. I don't want to raise any suspicions or concerns about a sudden departure. If I leave by myself, it would be easy enough to provide an excuse for my absence."

"Oh really, such as what, might I ask?" she said, crossing her arms.

"You sent me on an errand, perhaps? Maybe to collect some old notes from the castle?" he offered with a shrug.

Zelda pointedly stared at her knight from across the table, mulling the suggestion over. It really _wouldn't_ be that far a stretch for her to ask that of him, so to speak speaking. Nor would it be uncharacteristic of her to not provide further details, should someone question his absence. She was a princess after all and a certain amount of secretiveness would be expected from her.

"Well then, what of Symin and Purah? They are some of the top scholars and minds in their field of study, they're certain to see through a ruse like that."

"Princess, you successfully spent a century containing evil incarnate within the castle walls. I am wholly confident you can handle a nosey question or two from Purah."

She didn't even try to stop the warmth that bloomed in her chest at the compliment. Hopefully that same warmth hadn't reddened her cheeks.

Since leaving the field Ganon had perished in, neither one of them had spoken in depth of what they had accomplished, of the tremendous burdens they both had bared. What had happened on that field, the details of that fight, that was something between just the two of them and had needed no words.

However, it _was_ still nice to be complimented, at least every once and a while.

"You vex me sometimes, you know that?" She said, unfolding her arms. "Why are you so adamant that the others be kept in the dark? You plan to explain your situation to King Dorephan and Prince Sidon. So, tell me, what's the harm in our traveling companions knowing as well?"

He placed his hands on the tabletop, gaze focused on his fingers as he absently pulled at them.

"Perhaps I will find something at one of the springs that will be the key to fixing this. Perhaps I won't. I just…I don't want to worry people. Not until I absolutely must."

Zelda watched as he spoke, painfully aware of his body language. Nervously pulling at his fingers, his eyes turned to the table, unseeing as he spoke.

A century ago, she would have been pleased as pie to be privy to such a display of anxiousness from him. Hadn't she written that hope down so long ago, for him to become comfortable with being expressive around her? A part of her was angry at the naivety of her past self. Had she known this was how his openness would be coaxed out of him, she never would have given the hope a second thought.

"Alright, we'll do this as you see fit, on one condition:" She said, leaning forward, "Take the Sheikah Slate with you, visit the springs and be back within three days' time."

She had already begun pulling the slate from the harness on her hip, when he stopped her.

"No, Princess, please. I…I would prefer to travel by road. I want the time to think, and it gives me a chance to see parts of Hyrule I haven't been to in a while."

The underlining meaning of his words were not lost to her.

'I need to think about my impending death. I need to be alone. I want to see parts of Hyrule, in case I don't ever get the chance to again.'

She holstered the slate once more.

"Then, let me pose an alternative condition: visit the shrines within a week's time and return to Zora's Domain. I warn you, if you are not back here by sunrise of the eighth day, just know that I will _personally_ set out to each spring and drag you back here."

Link's eyes shifted once more to look at her, a genuine smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Emboldened by his grin, she outstretched her hand for him to shake.

"Do we have an agreement?" she asked.

He glanced at her palm for only a moment before grasping it firmly in his own hand, shaking it as he did so.

"We do, Princess."

King Dorephan leaned forward in rapt attention, face betraying none of what he felt.

While it had been interesting for the Hylian Champion to ask for an audience with him and his son, his reason for the request was even more so.

Link was frank and to the point, a characteristic that reminded the King of himself in his younger years, something that he could see still bothered Muzu. Old fashioned as he was, he held his tongue as the Champion spoke, something King Dorephan made a mental note to thank him for later.

Link explained where he had gone to that very morning and showed them the mark on his neck, terrible thing that it was. He asked them to not make mention of the true reason for his departure, to go along with the plan he and Hyrule's Princess had devised.

King Dorephan listened patiently until the boy had said his peace before leaning back into his throne, thinking carefully on his next words.

"It is a troubling thing, hearing what has happened to you, Link." He began, his deep voice reverberating around them. "I am sorry you have to leave Zora's Domain so soon, but you have my promise on this: Princess Zelda and her research companions will be under my protection while you are away."

"If I might add, father-" It was Sidon who spoke, continuing only when King Dorephan nodded his head, giving him permission to speak further, "Link, my friend, please know that on your return, should you need anything from our healers, you need only ask. You have done so much for our people, it would be an honor to help you where we can."

The Zora King smiled to himself; his son had truly grown into a fine prince and would not doubt make an even finer king, someday.

Link bowed deeply in thanks. As he made his leave of the throne room, the King caught Muzu's eyes and they shared a knowing look.

They were both old enough to not only remember Calamity Ganon's awakening, but also to see those affected directly by its Malice. Some of their own citizens had returned home with similar marks and in a matter of weeks had turned into things straight from nightmares.

King Dorephan felt his heart ache for the young man; for all that he had done for Hyrule, Link should be the last person to bare such a heavy fate.

He knew that mark was a death sentence, regardless of what the Champion planned to try and do.

The week during Link's absence passed by quickly enough, though Zelda had hoped he would return sooner then she had initially asked of him.

He did not.

It was on the third day of his absence that they had a breakthrough with Vah Ruta.

While not completely functional, they had been able to reactivate her core and had been able to move her back to the water of the dam.

They had found several of her components worn down from what they could only theorize was friction damage. Luckily, the components looked like they could be readily replaced with the Guardian parts Purah and Symin had brought with them. They hoped that, once they figured out how to lower her body into the water, it would act as lubricant and the replaced parts would not suffer the same sort of damage.

But that work would be for tomorrow.

The trio returned to the main hub of Zora's Domain just as the sun was setting, soaked to the bone, to be greeted by a flood of excited Zoras.

Purah reveled in the attention and answered the flurry of questions thrown her way like she was born for it. Symin was more subdued, but still enthusiastically accepted and answered their questions.

Zelda, however, was slowly becoming overwhelmed by the crowd and had no escape in sight.

"Princess Zelda, there you!" A voice rose above the crowd as Sidon carefully cut a path through the Zoras.

She turned her attention to him, a smile on her face that did not quite meet her eyes.

"I hate to drag you away from your new adoring fans," he said, making a sweeping gesture to his people, "but I do need to steal you away for a few moments."

She nodded in response, excused herself from the crowd, and followed his lead.

It was several minutes later before either of them spoke.

"I must thank you, Prince Sidon. I can't say I've had practice with crowds like that in quite some time. That was becoming…"

"Overwhelming?" He offered when she paused, searching for the right word.

"Yes, overwhelming."

"Think nothing of it, Princess. You are in my and my father's domain, it's our responsibility to do everything in our power to make sure your stay here is comfortable."

"You have my thanks, truly." She offered.

He gave her a characteristically toothy grin before continuing.

"Now, while my main intention of pulling you away _was_ to give you a chance to breathe, I do have a question for you."

She waited patiently for him to continue.

"Vah Ruta, how did you three even go about getting her to walk? I remember when I was very little, my sister had tried to explain it to me once. Unfortunately, as I was still a small child, my attention span was…minimal, at best. If you do not mind, I would love to learn more about how she functions."

Zelda grinned as he finished and pulled the Sheikah slate from her hip.

"Well, as luck would have it, I had the foresight to take some snapshots of the controls while we were there today. Here, let me show you."

For at least two hours after, the duo walked around Zora's Domain as Zelda answered the prince's questions, thoroughly enjoying herself.

It was on the fifth day of Link's absence that the trio finally had the Divine Beast fully functional once more.

The greeting they received as they returned that afternoon could only be described as an uproar. The entirety of the domain was there to greet them and everyone wore a smile as they thanked the group.

At one point, Muzu pulled them away from the crowd to take them to the King.

"It has truly been spectacular, I must say, to see all three of you do such wonderful work in such a short time. My daughter deeply enjoyed her time with the Divine Beast; to be able to see it help defeat Ganon and be in full working order again, I know would have brought her joy."

Though no celebration had been declared by the King, the Zora threw the first celebration they had truly enjoyed in a century.

On the sixth day, Zelda rested.

She laid in bed for a long while after waking, allowing herself to enjoy the sensation of the comfortable mattress beneath her.

As the morning continued, she eventually dragged herself from her bed and slowly dressed. As she slipped her boots on, her thoughts turned to Link and she wondered where he was. Instinctively, once her boots were firmly in place, she kneeled and clasped her hands together in prayer.

While she had spent the entirety of a century praying for control over the darkness that was Calamity Ganon, she still found herself turning her thoughts to the Goddesses, praying to them for strength and hope every day. It had been the only consolation she had during her lonely and dark prison within Hyrule Castle. It remained to be a source of solace to her still.

Even though she could no longer hear the voice from the Master Sword nor the voices from the Sacred Realm since her departure from the castle, she held on to the hope that someone would be good enough to answer her call once more.

So, she prayed.

"My Goddesses, please, I seek your guidance. The Hero of Hyrule has been marked by Calamity Ganon itself. There seems to exist no mortal cure for the wound. Is there nothing I might do for him?"

Half expecting to hear nothing but silence, her heart skipped a beat when a small voice whispered in her ear,

'…seal…it…'

At those words, the holy power she had not felt since Ganon's death sprung to her fingertips, the mark of the Triforce glowing through the back of her glove as it did so. It felt different, somehow. It had coursed through her without fail for a century, strong, unwavering and bright. But now it felt muted, like a pile of embers instead of a roaring flame.

Perhaps it was weaker because what she needed to seal was weaker?

She nodded her head definitively, content with her reasoning for the difference.

"Of course, thank you for your insight and power." Zelda ended her prayer, standing only once she knew the presence had left the room.

On the seventh day, Zelda waited.

She waited, anticipating that someone would come to her at any moment, announcing Link's return. No such thing happened as the day dragged on. As the morning turned to afternoon turned to early evening, she finally began to let her worry worm its way through her.

Where was he?

She insisted on taking no dinner that evening, stated she would much rather prefer a walk. Purah made a fuss about how she was the last of the Royale Family, how she still shouldn't be wandering around alone. With the world still only just freed from Ganon's presence, there would be no telling what still lingered.

To her relief, Prince Sidon volunteered to escort her, effectively shutting down Purah's concerns.

While she had only known the Prince for a week, their time together had been very enjoyable. It was because of that newly established acquaintanceship that they could share a comfortable silence as they walked down the long, crystalline path leading from the palace.

"You know, you did not have to offer to join me. It's very much appreciated, don't get me wrong, but I'm sure you would rather be enjoying a nice meal right now." She said, breaking the silence as they reached where the walkway turned to grass.

He made a noise in his throat, nearly a hum, as he considered her words.

"Truth be told, I'm not sure I have the stomach for a meal right now. I cannot deny, I have found myself worried for our mutual friend. I was certain Link would have been back before now, and yet…"

He let his words trail, not needing to finish.

Link had always come back. Time and time again, he continued to come back to her. Zelda was unable to help the small, sickening swirl of doubt and fear that had been growing as the week had gone on rear its ugly head. What news would Link have on his return? What if he had been hurt? What if he needed help? She really should have insisted on going with him or perhaps at least have him-

"Would it be alright if I spoke frankly for a moment?"

Zelda jumped ever so slightly at Sidon's question, her train of thought abruptly ending.

"Yes, of course."

His steps came to a halt on the grassy path and she stopped too, waiting for him to speak.

"When Link spoke with father and I, I did not understand fully what that mark on his neck was. True, he told us he got it during the battle with Calamity Ganon and told us of where he would go to search out remedies for it. But, I'd never seen mark like that before."

He paused, crossing his arms.

"So, being curious by nature, I did my own research on the illness from the medical archives. I had figured, if anything, I would be able to at least better understand why he had decided to go to the Springs of the Goddesses. Why he wouldn't be able to seek healing here. What I found in those archives, Princess, was not comforting. They spoke less on treatment of the illness and more about symptoms, containment procedures, and how to properly dispose of infected bodies. It was, in all honesty, very unsettling to read. Unsettling indeed."

Zelda clenched and unclenched her hands nervously. Though she had known the Prince for only the past seven days, it was apparent that he was enthusiastic to help wherever he could. She had seen him, time and time again, addressing issues brought to his attention with only the utmost seriousness and sincerity. Perhaps, she thought, he wouldn't be the worst person to share her concerns with.

"Would…would it be alright if I spoke frankly, too? Just for a moment?"

Sidon's focus turned to her, head tilting ever so slightly with interest.

"Certainly."

She clasped her hands together, attention turned down the dirt path leading farther and farther away from Zora's Domain.

"I have found this all unsettling, just as you said. I fear that he may do something rash, should he think it would save others trouble. He tends to act selflessly, sometimes to his detriment."

"Might I ask, what makes you say that?"

She snuck a look at his face, trying to read his expression. Since she had started speaking, he had uncrossed his arms and had turned to face her, attention fully on her. His expression, as it had been since she had met him, was welcoming and kind.

"It's difficult to explain but…when Link awoke from the Shrine of Resurrection, I had a connection with him. From all the way in Hyrule Castle, within the depths of Calamity Ganon, he could hear my voice and, in turn, I could see through his eyes."

She paused, carefully choosing her next words.

"I watched time and time again as he jumped at the chance to help in any situation he came upon. Even with no memories to call his own, he instinctively put others' needs before his own, like it was second nature. I fear that he may try to shoulder this illness on his own. I am frightened that he might keep others at an arm's length so as not to be a…a burden."

She could feel a coldness creep into her chest. Why would she be saying something like this? Why should she unload her troubles onto someone else, to a prince no less?!

"O-oh, what am I saying. Here I am, spilling my guts to a near stranger, on my first visit here in a century. Some ruler I am, I must be making a terrible first impression." She awkwardly finished, hands clasped together so tightly her knuckles were surely white.

"Not at all, Princess."

As always, his tone was gentle, nonjudgmental in the slightest.

"You've stepped back into a very different Hyrule from the one you knew so long ago, and yet I have only seen you handle this experience with patience and a warm smile. You and your companions answered our call for help without a moment's hesitation. You stayed to see the job through, despite a setback for one of your party member's health. You repaired Vah Ruta. A few honest concerns shared between friends would never taint the impression you've given me and my people."

She let a smile spread across her face at his words, some of the tension in her shoulders lifting.

"That's an awfully kind thing of you to say. I think it speaks highly of your character that you can make strangers into friends in only a week's time…thank you, Prince Sidon.

"You are most welcome, Princess Zelda."

They stayed standing there, on the edge of the bridge, a comfortable silence engulfing them once more.

As the last rays of light gave way to night around them, Zelda sighed, worry filling her once again.

True to her word, she had waited seven days, and the seventh sunset had come and gone. She would gather her things from her room and be on her way to the Springs come first morning light.

She turned to make her way back down the crystalline pathway to the palace, when Sidon spoke.

"Princess, look."

Lo and behold, the silhouette of a figure on horseback approached them from a distance, slowly but surely drawing closer. As it neared, the silhouette became familiar.

"Oh…oh that looks like Link. Link! Link, welcome back my friend!" Sidon called, waving enthusiastically.

The figure on horseback waved back with considerably less energy. Zelda's worry wormed its way into her very guts at the sight.

He would not meet their eyes as he approached, gaze focused on the back of his horse's neck.

"Link, we had begun to worry about you! What took you so long, my friend?" Sidon asked as the much shorter Hylian dismounted from his steed.

When Zelda could at last see his face, she felt herself freeze.

It wasn't the disheveled way his hair sat across his forehead nor the bags that had begun to develop under his eyes that froze her in place.

When his eyes finally met hers, all she could see was pain.


	3. The Springs

Link stifled a yawn against the back of his hand and wiped away the grit from his eyes. It was day four of his trip from Zora's Domain and his luck, thus far, had been non-existent.

While there was no one decent way to travel between the three springs from Zora's Domain, he had chosen to visit the farthest first, figuring he should get it over and done with.

The Spring of Power had been silent to his prays and the water yielded no discernable change in the mark, even after fully submerging himself in it.

Similarly, the Spring of Wisdom was quiet, though he had the foresight to bring a bottle with him to gather the spring water. There was no way he would subject himself to those frigid conditions, he'd freeze in no time.

Though, when he had reached the bottom of Mt. Lanayru and took a moment to drench his neck with the reserved water, still nothing happened.

'This is ridiculous.' He thought to himself as he stifled yet another yawn.

He had traveled almost non-stop since leaving Zora's Domain, resting for perhaps an hour or two at a time and only when he could no longer keep his eyes open. He had become accustomed to resting irregularly while traveling on his own, so he found his sleepiness perplexing.

Link shook his head and turned his attention back to the road ahead of him. All he had left to do was visit the Spring of Courage.

He spurred his horse into a steady trot as a familiar cliffside came into view. The most direct route to the final spring from where he was would be to scale the Popla Foothills and glide down from there. He steered his horse from the road, slowing her to a gentle canter as the terrain became more rock and gravel then dirt. Once he was as close to the foothills as the terrain would allow on horseback, he dismounted his steed, and gave her a gentle pat on her neck.

"Wait here, ok?"

Belphia snorted at him and bumped her nose against his shoulder, as if to say, 'Don't take too long!'. He smiled and patted her neck again for good measure.

He had previously made this climb before with relative ease. On this attempt though, he realized with a certain amount of frustration, that he desperately needed to rest once he reached the top. He sat himself down, legs dangling over the cliffside he had just climbed, completely out of breath.

'This is ridiculous.' He thought to himself again, wiping sweat from his forehead.

Climbing had never really taken energy out of him before, at least not like this.

For what must have been the thousandth time since he'd begun his trip, Link touched the back of his neck and his fingers traced over the raised, lightning patterned skin they found there. He had hoped he'd been imagining it, but he could swear that something had changed about it. Even after only four days, its reach seemed to have spread, the affected skin seemed to be more pronounced, somehow felt colder to the touch.

He retracted his hand and did his best to not think too much on it. He still had the Spring of Courage ahead of him, the attribute most commonly associated with the Hero of Legend. If any of the springs would help him, he was most certain it would be this one.

He stood back up at that point, rested enough that his breathing was regular once again.

After about a half hour of walking across the foothills, he found himself overhead the spring, the holes underneath his feet showing him the shallow water below. He sighed as he pulled out the paraglider and, with a definitive jump, glided down. No time like the present.

Before he had even touched down, he could feel that something was different from his last visit. The air immediately around the spring silently pulsed with an undeniable energy. As he stepped through the entrance to the spring, the ambient noises of the tropical forest became muffled, like he was hearing them from behind a closed door. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that there was something here.

He quietly put away the paraglider and approached the spring. He stood at the very edge of the water, unsure of how to proceed.

A gentle wind ruffled his hair, as if to beckon him closer, to come wade in the water. With an affirmative nod, he quickly undressed until he was only in his under garments, placing his pack and armor on the bank nearby.

He stepped into the water and, as he did so, another breeze blew his hair about. He could have sworn there was the faintest whisper of a voice in that wind. While he could not make out the words, he instinctively knew what it wanted of him.

He waded in the knee-high water and walked to the statue of the Goddess, staring up at it as he approached.

Once he was before it, he turned his focus to the shallow water, trying to think of how he would go about this. The Spring of Power had been deep enough for him to do a full body dunk into. This, however, would require a little more finesse.

He lowered himself into a sitting position, doing his best to disturb the water around him as little as possible. From where he sat, he carefully laid himself down in the spring, taking care to keep his head above the water and his neck submerged.

Link, at that point, began to listen. For a sign, a voice, for anything that would point him in the right direction.

'Please…I know there's something here. Please just show me what I have to do.' He prayed silently.

No voice came to him. No sign made itself known. But the presence remained.

He yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth. He could hear the gentle rippling of the spring as a breeze blew on the surface. The water itself was just the slightest bit cool, the perfect temperature to stave off the humidity of the jungle. His hands sank into the cool clay and silt covered floor of the spring. The air around him, though muggy, smelled richly of moss and earth. It was so nice, he mused, just to be able to take in the world around him.

It was at that thought that Link let his eyes close, finding it impossible to keep them open any longer.

He'd rest them, just for a moment, just for a second-

He found himself floating in a deep and terrible darkness. This inky blackness was something he had felt before. Was something tangible and _wrong_. But for the life of him, he couldn't place where he knew it from.

He could feel his surroundings shift around him ever so slightly, could feel the darkness turn its attention towards him, eyeless and menacing.

"What are you?" He called out to it, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Where had he felt this before?

As the words left his mouth, the darkness began to morph, to concentrate itself in front of him. His feet touched down on an undefined floor, his toes squishing into a disgusting, slick muck. He became aware of just how awful everything smelled, like a stagnant pond filled with something dead. He watched as this _thing_ before him continued to grow and he knew that there was something horribly off about it. With inhuman speed and jaunty movements, the concentrated mass shapeshifted and suddenly he was staring at himself.

Or, at least, something that looked like him.

It was the same height, bore the same hair color, had the same set of battle scars. What wasn't the same, though, was the black, lightning like marks covering it from head to toe. It stood before him, still as stone, eyes firmly shut.

A sudden and cold uneasiness settled in his throat and his instincts started screaming at him to run, run, RUN-

As he took a step backwards, the thing in front of him staggered forward, shoulders hunched, arms hanging limply in front of it.

Link took another step and the humanoid lunged. As it did, he could see the thing's skin peel away from the black cracks, revealing an oily, black mass of a face underneath, swirls of red and deep purple moving just beneath the surface.

In the next second it had him pinned to the floor and his skin burned where it touched him. He struggled against it, but it held him in an inhumanely tight grip, its fingers too long, too thin, too strong to belong to something mortal.

It craned its amorphous head to his face, coming close enough for him to smell a faint stench of decay roll from it.

It cocked its head to the side and, as it did so, opened its eyes, an uncomfortably familiar blue coloring them. The uneasiness rapidly turned into a cold terror and his heart began to thunder against his rib cage. As if it could smell his fear, it smiled down at him, its mouth too big for the face, teeth too big for the mouth, and finally answered his question. Its voice was low and broken and entirely not of this world.

"I…am…everything."

With those words said, Link finally realized where he knew this feeling from. Had seen the same fiery hatred directed at him before in the depths of Hyrule Castle.

It was then that its mouth opened wide, far too wide to be physically possible. As it took his head into its jaws, an agonizing scream tore through him. He screamed as he felt his skull begin to crack under the pressure of its teeth, as the bones in his neck snapped in half-

Link was already sitting up when he came to, wet hair clinging to his face, the spring water rippling around him from the sudden movement.

He immediately curled in on himself, pressed his forehead against his knees, and gripped the back of his neck so tightly he knew his nails would leave an indent. His chest heaved as his heart continued to thunder on in terror, though there was nothing there to hurt him. His eyes stung from a pressure building behind them, but he refused to give into the temptation to cry.

'No, not yet. Not yet. It was just a dream. It's ok. You'll be ok.'

He repeated the mantra over and over as he continued to shiver in fear, hoping he would eventually convince himself the he would, indeed, be ok.

* * *

Sidon had never seen his friend so tired before and, truth be told, he found himself slightly alarmed by that fact. Even so, he knew that there would be a time and a place to fully address that concern. But now was not the time. Now was not the place.

"Link, I am certain you must be weary after your trip. I'd be happy to see about getting some food before you head to bed, if you'd like."

"Actually," the Hylian began, "do you know if the infirmary is still seeing patients? I'd like to go tonight, if possible."

"Oh, of course! Let's head back, shall we?"

Link nodded and, leading his horse by the reins, the three of them made their way back across the bridge in silence.

There was something there, in that silence, that Sidon found unsettling.

Perhaps it was the questions that neither he nor the Princess dared to ask? Was it the fact that Link pointedly kept his traveling hood up and eyes forward? He couldn't put his finger on it but, for now, he let it be.

Once they were back in the main hub of Zora's Domain, Sidon finally broke the tense silence that surrounded them.

"If you'd like, I'd be glad to stop at the infirmary while you board your horse. You know, to make sure there is someone available to see you!"

Link nodded, finally meeting Sidon's eyes with his own and offered him a small smile.

"That'd be appreciated. Thank you."

"Alright, I will be back before you know it!" Sidon said, unable to hide the glee from his features as he dashed away. Though his friend was undoubtledly tired, the fact that he had managed to glean a smile from him was promising.

Though his stride on land was short, Sidon was still very quick on his feet and arrived at the infirmary desk in no time.

"Good evening!" He greeted the attendant, startling her with his boisterous tone.

"O-oh, Prince Sidon, good evening to you!"

"Tell me, are you still accepting patients for the evening?"

"Um, w-well, we are technically closed for the day. The only healer left is Madame Meeda a-and she's just finishing up s-some documents before heading out."

"Would it be possible for me to ask a favor, my good lady? A dear friend has just returned from a trip and is requesting to see a healer tonight. I know he visited last week and spoke with Madame Meeda, could you ask if she'd see him?"

"A-ah Prince Sidon, I'm really n-not-" she was cut off by a voice as an older Zora stepped out of the of the hallway just next to the desk.

"There's no need to ask, Prince Sidon. I was hoping to see Link as soon as he arrived back anyways. This works out for everyone."

Sidon let a smile spread across his face.

"Thank you very much, Madame. If you just wait here a moment, I can go fetch him, he's boarding his horse now."

"Take your time, my Prince. I will be here."

He bowed his head in thanks and, with the same surprising speed as before, ran back to where he had left Link and Zelda.

* * *

Zelda had never seen Link so purposely quiet. In all the time she had known him, his silences had never felt so heavy nor uncomfortable. As Link undid the saddle and removed the bridle from his horse, she steeled herself and broke that silence.

"I must ask Link, did your trip prove fruitful?"

He ignored her question, preferring to continue taking care of his horse, another first in the time she had known him. She tried not to take the action personally, but the small slight stung.

"Link, please. Tell me." She asked, her voice soft.

He finished with removing the equipment, sighed, and turned towards the Princess.

"I-" He began, clenching and unclenching his hands, "nothing helped me. None of the springs did anything. Or at least, I don't think they did. That's why I need to see a healer as soon as I can. I have to know if anything's changed, if anything I did made this better."

The silence enveloped them again and Zelda felt her heart sink. He even sounded tired.

"Well, perhaps, I might be able to try something? I, well, in addition to working on Vah Ruta while you were away, I also did some thinking on your situation."

He finally pulled his hood down as he began brushing Belphia, his brushing slow and deliberate. She knew he wasn't ignoring her now.

"I was thinking I might try using my sealing power on that mark. Perhaps, since you received it from Calamity Ganon, I might be able to help rid you of it."

Link stopped mid-brush, his eyes still focused on his horse.

"Do you think that would work?"

Zelda did not miss the undertone of hope in his whispered words.

"I'm don't know. But, it doesn't hurt to try everything we can, right?"

He small chuckle escaped him and he placed the brush back where it had come from.

"I can't disagree with you on that, Princess. Would you be willing to try it tonight? I have a sneaking suspicion that my trip really didn't do me much good and, well, maybe we can have this all fixed before bedtime."

"Yes! Yes of course, I'd be happy to try."

It was at that moment that both of their attentions were all but snatched away from the conversation by the sound of a familiar voice.

"Link, Princess Zelda!"

Sidon trotted towards them, beckoning them to follow him.

"Well, shall we?" Zelda posed.

With a nod, they both made their way to the Prince and followed him.

* * *

"Princess, I would normally ask that others wait outside during an examination, but I imagine Link here had a reason for insisting you attend." Meeda said as she opened the door to an examination room, closing it only when they had both entered.

"Yes ma'am, we thought that it may be worth trying to use my sealing powers on the mark. Especially if Link's trip to the springs truly did not help him."

Meeda nodded silently before clapping her hands together, saying,

"Alright, let's get to this. Link, if you'd remove your tunic, let's look at that mark of yours."

Link tried his best to ignore the fact that Zelda stood several paces away from him, hands clasped together tightly. He tried his best to ignore her nervousness, near tangible as it was. He noted to himself silently, that he was doing a terrible job.

He undid the clasp of his traveling hood and began the process of removing his Hylian armor.

"I will say this off the bat, you do seem to be faring better than others did at four weeks from exposure. Have you been getting sleep?"

With his head currently stuck in the high neckline of the armor, he shook a free hand in a 'so-so' gesture.

"What of those elixirs I sent you off with? Have you been taking them?"

With a final tug, he freed his head from the armor's collar and gave her a nod.

"Good, that's very good. Now, do me a favor and tilt your head forward, let's look at this thing."

Link obliged and tilted his head forward, fully exposing the mark. A moment later, Meeda's fingers began examining the skin, prodding here and there at the infected site. It somehow felt almost different, though. He could feel pressure against his neck where she pushed, but could not actually feel the touch or warmth of her fingers. It was almost as if the skin had turned numb.

"Tell me, can you feel me pushing on your neck?"

"Um, I suppose? I can feel the pressure of you pushing, but not much else."

She hummed in response and a moment later her fingers were gone.

"Well, I'm sorry to say, but whatever you tried to do on your trip doesn't seem to have helped. You're showing the classic signs for this stage: marked growth of the Blight mark, numbness of infected area, and progressing issues with sleep. Tell me, have you been having nightmares?"

Link nodded and took a seat in the chair nearest him, forcing his face to remain as neutral as possible. He couldn't give up yet.

"Again, unfortunate, but not unexpected. Princess, did you want to try sealing it?"

"Oh, yes! Certainly!"

It was only at the healer's prompting that Zelda stepped towards him, still wringing her hands nervously. She was quick to position herself behind the chair he was sitting in, at the ready.

"Link, are you sure you'd like to try this tonight? I'm happy to provide a room for privacy tomorrow if need be." Meeda said, deferring the choice to her patient.

He shook his head.

"No thank you. Since the Princess offered to try this, I'd like to do so sooner rather than later. Especially since the springs proved unhelpful."

Meeda nodded, agreeing with his statement.

Link turned his head ever so slightly, catching sight of Zelda in the corner of his eye.

"I'm ready whenever you are, Princess."

She took a deep breath and nodded, untangling her hands from each other.

"Alright then, brace yourself Link."

Without another word, the room began to fill with a bright and beautiful light.

Immediately, Link felt an excruciating pain take hold of him. It felt like claws had suddenly dug into the skin of his neck, squeezing and pulling at his throat. Pressure instantly built behind his eyes as what felt like a thousand fire and ice blades stabbed into his spine in tandem. He could dimly feel his heart pounding louder and louder in his ears and, goddesses, why did everything hurt-

A pained gasp caught in his throat as his body instinctively pitched forward, trying to distance itself from that blinding, burning cold light directed at his neck.

As he fell, his vision blackened at the edges and everything stopped.

* * *

Sidon waited patiently outside the infirmary, hoping he would get to escort his friends back to their rooms once they were done. Though he had been confused as to why Link had requested Zelda to attend the examination with him, he did not take it to heart. He supposed, if anything, perhaps there were things they needed to discuss in the confidentiality an infirmary room offered.

As he waited, he made idle conversation with Lundie, mostly letting her talk excitedly about how her apprenticeship had gone so far.

About fifteen minutes after Link and Zelda had entered, Sidon heard hurried footsteps coming down the hall and within moments the Princess and Madame Meeda where before him.

Without allowing him even a moment to greet her, Meeda spoke.

"Prince Sidon, if you would be willing to escort Princess Zelda to her room, Link will be staying with us overnight for observation. Lundie, if you would please come with me?"

Without another word, she turned herself around to face the hallway entrance and, with a surprising quickness for her age, made her way back from where she had come.

"M-Madame Meeda, wait, what is-Prince Sidon I am very sorry, but I must go. Madame Meeda!" Lundie called after her mentor as she followed.

Sidon, confused and concerned, turned his attention to the Princess. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, her hands holding her elbows. Her eyes were watery and a look of pained terror was etched on her face. He could not help it when his own worry began to bubble up in his chest.

"Princess, what happened, what's wrong?"

She turned her eyes to meet his own, stubbornly holding her tears at bay.

"I tried to seal the mark, like I did to Calamity G-Ganon. It-I don't know what happened, but it just," she unfolded her arms, making an exasperated gesture with her hands, " _I_ just hurt him. I-It hurt him enough to make him p-pass out. My power did him no good, no good what so ever and the mark is just as bad and, oh Goddesses, what if I did permanent damage-"

Sidon gently took one of her hands into both of his and kneeled, purposely lowering himself to her eye level.

"Princess, please, take a moment breathe."

Her mouth drew into a thin line as she followed his suggestion, angrily wiping at her unfallen tears with the back of her hand as she did so.

"I'm so sorry, I'm behaving terribly." She said after several deep, calming breaths.

"There's no need to apologize. Truly, there isn't. Now, if you wouldn't mind, let's talk about what happened. Perhaps, over some tea and a snack? I've finally seemed to have found my appetite and would be happy for the company. Though, if you wish to retire for the night, I am happy to escort you to back to your room."

As if on cue, Zelda's stomach gave a gentle rumble.

"I suppose that's as good an answer as any." She said quietly, offering the Prince a very small smile.

He returned it as he stood and let go of her hand, leading the way to the kitchens. He would not push the issue tonight, no. He did not want to see the Princess so distraught ever again, if it could be helped.

* * *

Link awoke to a very distinct pounding in his head, a developing habit of his body that he was decidedly not pleased with.

Eyes still closed, he could tell he was lying down in a very comfortable bed, sheets tucked around his still shirtless body. Groaning, he opened his eyes and tried to sit up, undoing the careful tucking of the sheets. His neck and shoulders were incredibly tight and the accompanying pangs of pain had him hissing through his teeth in pain.

What in the world had happened?

"Try not to strain yourself too much, Champion."

He stubbornly finished sitting up, despite the pain, and turned his attention to the voice.

He found Meeda sitting in a chair just a few feet from his bed, looking over a set of what Link assumed were documents.

"Madame Meeda, where's the Princess?" he asked, leaning his shoulders on bed's headboard.

"Don't worry yourself about the Princess, Hero. I asked Prince Sidon to escort her back to her room. If I were you, I might be a little bit more concerned about why I was in an infirmary bed." The Zora teased him, ever so slightly.

Link blinked and looked down at his lap. Instinctively, he touched the back of his neck and flinched at the tender soreness that blossomed under his hand. What had happened?

He recalled a blinding light, an excruciating pain _-claws had suddenly dug into the skin of his neck, squeezing and pulling at his throat_ \- and he sighs as his hand dropped back to his lap.

Even the most powerful and holy magic known to Hyrule had done nothing to help him. What was he to do now?

He closed his eyes and pressed a palm firmly against them, willing the tightness in his chest to loosen. He would not cry, would not give up. Not yet.

He had to continue. There was no choice. There had never been any other choice but to continue.

After several long minutes, he removed his hand, his grief now firmly tucked away and the tightness gone from his chest. He turned his gaze to Meeda, her eyes still glued to the paperwork in her lap, unseeing. He suddenly felt a great wave of appreciation for his healer as he realized what she was doing. The flippancy of reading work documents at her patient's bedside was a farce; in truth, she was prepared to console him or to allow him his privacy, which ever he would have needed most at a moment's notice.

"Tell me," he eventually asked, quietly, "what do I do now? Is there anything else to be done?"

After a long pause, Meeda shuffled her papers together into a neat stack and stood up. She made her way to the counter that sat by the door and retrieved a mortar and pestle from the cabinet above it. As she pulled jar after jar of ingredients from the same cabinet, she answered him.

"At this point Champion, there is nothing I, or anyone else in Hyrule, can do for you. In the hundred years I've been practicing medicine, I have yet to see another illness as vicious as the Blight. I had so hoped that the Princess' powers might be the key to healing you. The poor girl was nearly beside herself when I shooed her out, thinking she had hurt you. Perhaps my bedside manner could use some freshening after all."

She took whole leaves from their containers and began to crush them with the tools of her trade.

"Did it really do nothing? Nothing at all?" He asked pointedly, turning his attention to the ceiling as the pressure built behind his eyes again. He would not cry, he would not cry, he would not-

"The Blight remains unchanged, despite the Princess' best efforts. If I were you, my dear, I would return to where I call home. I would enjoy my favorite foods, perhaps go for a long swim, maybe watch the sun rise…" her words trailed off as she pulled another jar from the overhead cabinet.

A long, pregnant pause strung out between them, only breaking once Meeda bottled the first draft and began on a second.

"If your symptoms continue as they have, you will continue to have troubles sleeping as the weeks progress. This," she held up the bottle she had just corked, "is potent. You need never drink more than half of one to get its full affects. Even with the proper dosage, you may find it hard to properly wake up the morning after taking it. It's nothing to be alarmed by. In addition to this, I will make you one _other_ elixir."

Link blinked and turned his focus to the healer once more, so certain that he had heard her voice catch in her throat as she spoke. It almost looked like her hands now shook as she worked.

"What is it for? Is it something else to slow the mark's spread?"

Her hands stopped abruptly, her mouth drawing itself into a thin line. When she turned to face him, her eyes were sad in a way he had never seen before. Like she was pained by something deep and old that she would rather forget.

"We Zora do not have a name for it, do not want a name for it. Back during the weeks after Calamity Ganon awoke, my Hylian patients started calling it the Silent Sleep. When taken, it acts just like a sleeping potion, at first. It would put my patients to sleep and, as it worked its way through them, it would…" she paused, clasping her hands together, "It would slowly stop their hearts. It was a painless way to go, considering the alternatives they were faced with. I-I had many people request that I make this for them, when the Blight was at its worst."

Link's brow furrowed as he wet his lips, thoroughly confused.

"Why? Why would- why do you think I need something like that?"

She silently turned back to the counter and continued her work, the grinding sound of the mortar and pestle filling the room.

"Madame Meeda, please, tell me."

She remained silent for several beats before she spoke, her hands still busy with her work.

"Back when this sickness was at its height, this was my most prominent responsibility. To make this poisoned potion and dose it out to those under my care who needed it. I required to wait until there was absolutely no hope, to wait until my patient's only words begged for their death. I know I may not be present should that moment happen to you. I cannot, will not, bear the thought of having sent you on your way without this. You may not need it. You may some other means of a cure or relief. But, I would prefer you be overly prepared, then for you to need it and not have it."

The heavy silence fell between them once again and it remained unbroken for the remainder of the night.

By the time the sun was rising, Meeda had left her patient to his rest, leaving behind eight vials of potion. Seven were identical; squat and square, they were filled with a bluish, purple liquid that shimmered when shaken.

The eighth, however, was no bigger than the size of a small apple and was filled with an unassuming clear liquid. For anyone who didn't know what it was, it could easily have been mistaken for water.

As he redressed himself, movements still stiff from the prior night's sealing attempt, he found his attention drawn back to the small vial time and time again.

He packed his sleeping aids, careful in their placement so they would not shatter in his bag, he turned one last time to stare at the remaining bottle. He picked it up from the bed and ran his thumb over the cool, thick glass of the vial.

He stood there for a long while before he slipped it into one of the pouches on his belt, closing it tightly.

He hadn't given up. Not yet.

But it never hurt to be prepared for the worst.

* * *

Zelda was not surprised that Link had yet to join them for breakfast. Nor was she surprised that Purah had been bombarding her with probing questions the moment she had walked in the door.

"Where's Link? When did he get in last night? Did he say anything about wanting to stay longer? I meant to ask Prince Sidon when I saw him but he was just as tight lipped as you've been. I swear, I may just have to march into Linky's room and ask him myself!"

While she knew Purah was only concerned for Link, she did silently wish that the smaller woman would let her eat in peace.

"Purah, please, we've already gone through this. Let's just enjoy the food, we can speak with Link about our travel plans af-"

It was at that moment that the door to the private dining room opened.

"Speak of the devil, good morning Linky!" Purah excitedly said, shooting him a wink as he nodded at her greeting.

Unconsciously, Zelda's eyes darted to his neck as he entered the room. Though, with him wearing his Hylian armor once more, the high neckline kept his afflicted skin from view. Zelda shifted her gaze to his face, trying to read his expression.

His face was still as stone and betrayed none of what he felt.

Zelda watched as he took the few steps needed to reach the table, though he did not take a seat.

"Good morning Link. Why don't you sit down and have a bite?" Symin offered, pointing his fork to the spread on the table.

He sighed evenly and placed both of his hands on the back of the chair in front of him.

"I actually…I have something I need to tell you. About where I went during this last week, if I could."

Purah's stopped mid bite and snapped her head in his direction, looking between him and Zelda several times before placing her fork on her plate.

"Yes, yes, please Link, go right ahead!" she said, urging him to continue with a small hand gesture.

Zelda did not miss the small twitch of his hands as they moved to the collar of his tunic, pulling it downwards.

"Link, what are-" Symin started, stopping as the blackened skin on the Hero's neck was exposed.

They all remained quiet as he let the collar curl back upwards after several long seconds of exposure, again the small shake in his hands not lost to Zelda's discerning eye.

"Oh Link, oh no…" Purah said, her voice pained as she finally broke the silence that had settled around the table.

Zelda flicked her eyes towards Purah and watched as she raised her hands to her mouth. She certainly would have been old enough to see the Blight. She wondered, her thoughts turning dark for a moment, how many people she had to watch die from the exact same sickness.

"Wh-what was that? What happened to your neck?" Symin asked, unable to hide his confusion.

"When I fought Calamity Ganon, the Malice that protected its body touched me and left behind a mark. I have been told that it will grow and, eventually, will kill me." His voice was monotone as he spoke.

"Is that why you left Zora's Domain? Why didn't you say anything to us?!" Purah asked in a hushed tone.

Zelda remained silent as he gave a nod as the answer to her first question and rolled right into her second with,

"I went to visit the Springs of Power, Wisdom, and Courage to see if there would be anything there to help me. I prayed and nothing answered me. I didn't want to worry anyone unnecessarily, not until I had visited those springs."

Another pregnant, deafening silence filled the dining room as he finished speaking.

"Link, where do you want to go? What do you want to do from here?" Zelda found herself asking him.

His stoic façade cracked, just the smallest bit as he finally allowed himself to show what was certainly only a fraction of what he was feeling. His hands noticeably shook as he clasped them together and, with an exhausted tone she had never heard him used, answered her question.

"I just want to go home."


	4. Haze

The trip from Zora's Domain to Kakariko Village was one done mostly in silence, something Link found himself grateful for. Their nights were spent in rented beds at stables, though he found his sleep now constantly disturbed. Night after night, he dreamed of a vicious darkness and watched it kill him time and time again.

By the last night of their trip, his restless sleep and climbing exhaustion forced him to take a dose of the sleeping potion Meeda had given him.

As the others prepared dinner for the evening, he had already made his way into the stable tent and readied himself for sleep. He made quick work of changing into a sleep shirt and pulling his boots from his feet. He drew a vial from his pack, uncorked it and downed half of it in one gulp, pulling a face as a medicinal bitterness coated his tongue. Certainly, it was not the tastiest thing he'd ever had.

As he re-corked the bottle and slipped it back into his bag, he could feel a heaviness settle in his eyes and body. Meeda had warned him of its potency, though he hadn't expected its effects to be near immediate. He yawned widely and covered himself with the bed's blankets, groaning in a tired pleasure. Surely, this must be the most comfortable bed he had ever slept in.

By the time supper was ready, Link was found sound asleep in his bed, snoring softly from beneath the blankets.

His travel companions left him to his much-needed rest.

It had not gone unnoticed by the three that Link always seemed to be the first to wake and the last to bed. It would be later in that same evening that they voiced their growing suspicions and concerns.

"Do we know if he's gotten any sleep in the last few nights?" Symin had said as he roasted several apples.

Both Zelda and Purah shook their heads.

"I've asked him every morning how he slept, but it's always the same response of 'Ok' and that's it! I swear, how can we try to help him if he doesn't say what's wrong?" Purah chimed in, somewhat exasperated.

Zelda had remained silent, opting to dig into the roasted apple Symin gave her, savoring its sweetness and warmth.

She understood where Purah was coming from, truly she did. But, she also knew Link. Even with only a hand full of memories from before his stay in the Shrine of Resurrection, he remained the same when it came to himself. Never offer anything more then what was asked for and only when necessary. He'd been that way since the moment she met him.

They spoke together late into the night, enjoying the various fruits and nuts Symin decided to roast.

When they awoke the next morning, they found Link just as he had been the night before, the only notable difference being that his snoring had stopped. As the Symin and Purah set about making breakfast, Zelda took it upon herself to try to rouse him from his sleep.

"Link, it's time to wake up. Come on now." She said, gently pushing against his shoulder. His response was to simply grunt and poke his head from under his blanket, his eyes half lidded as he stared at her and hair sticking about in a fantastic manner.

Zelda attempted to stifle her a small fit of laughter with a hand to her mouth. Who would have thought the Hero of Hyrule could have such incredible bedhead?

"Symin and Purah are making breakfast right now. I would imagine you're hungry after not taking dinner before bed, am I right?

He blinked slowly as he considered her words. He eventually sat up, shoulders still wrapped in the blanket, and rubbed the heel of his hand against his eyes as he nodded.

"That's what I suspected" She said with a smile and stepped back from the bed, giving him the space he needed to groggily stand up. He deposited the blanket back on the bed and stifled a yawn as he stretched.

Though he had not changed from his traveling pants the night prior, Zelda could see that he had at least changed into a sleep shirt. It was because of this change in clothes that her eye caught sight of the Blight mark and a pit in her stomach formed. Even in the few days it had been since she'd last seen it, she could tell it had grown. The lines now stretched down to just above his clavicles and had begun to snake their way towards the front of his neck.

She forced her attention away from the offending mark, opting to focus on his face instead.

"Did you sleep well?"

He nodded as he ran his fingers through his hair, his bedhead soon smoothed back into his signature ponytail.

"Yeah, I took a nip from one of the sleeping potions Meeda gave me and I slept like a-" he stifled yet another yawn, his eyes watering.

"Still not quite yet awake, I see." Zelda teased.

He shook his head in response, grinning.

"She did warn about this, being groggy the next morning, so it's not unexpected."

"Well, whenever you're ready to join us, food will be ready here shortly."

He nodded and set about preparing himself for the day. Zelda left to give him his privacy, casting a look over her shoulder just as he removed his sleeping shirt.

That pit in her stomach deepened. She realized, with a certain amount of cold anxiety, that the originating point of the mark had begun to change as well. Instead of the pitch blackness it had once been only a few days prior, it was now also laced with vicious red and murky purple colors at its center.

Before she could study it further, the affected skin was out of sight as Link pulled the tunic of the Hylian armor over his head. She turned away once more and stepped out in the morning light, doing everything in her power not to let her thoughts linger on the coldness that had settled in her chest.

Breakfast passed by as it had the previous mornings and they found themselves back on the road in no time. With Kakariko only a few hours ride from where they were, Zelda knew they should make it there before midday.

The group fell into the pattern they had developed over the last few days: Link leading the way, Zelda behind him, followed by Symin and Purah, the silence around them constant. It would have stayed like that, had Zelda not decided to break it with a question she knew had to be asked. Spurring her horse to go just a little faster, so soon found herself at his side, quick to make her concern known.

"Link, what do you want to do when we get to Kakariko? I'm sure there will be a certain amount of insistence that we rest for the night at least. But after, do you plan on staying or… "

She let the question hang in the air as she spurred her horse to walk beside his, unsure of how to continue. What _would_ he want to do?

She waited for his response as he mulled over what she said. Or, at least, she hoped he was mulling it over.

"I'm honestly not sure what I want to do. While I own a house in Hateno, it's really been more of a place to store equipment. I only know a few of the villagers by name. I don't know if that would be the best place for me to stay during…this." He made a lazy gesture towards his neck at his last word.

"Well, Linky, you don't _have_ to leave Kakariko. I know everyone would be happy to have you, if you wanted to stay." Purah piped up, her and Symin's horse pulling up to Zelda's other side.

Zelda chanced a glance at Link's face to see his expression outwardly stoic. It was only because of her prolonged experience with him that she could now see the underlining emotions. Discomfort, apprehension, perhaps even shame?

"Link," she began, "you need not explain your situation to those in Kakariko. You could just stay, visit like you've done before. There is no need to make yourself uncomfortable."

He was silent for a beat before he spoke again.

"Meeda advised that as this becomes more advanced, symptoms will become harder to hide. I don't want to frighten anyone. I really don't." His voice grew quiet as he finished the thought.

Zelda's heart ached at his words. Even faced with such a tremendous burden, his first instincts were to put others needs before his own. Too selfless for his own good.

"Perhaps, then, you could speak with Impa? Leave it to her to decide if anyone else should know? My sister's always been good with tricky situations like this." Purah spoke again.

"Yeah Link, Lady Impa should be able to help. Of course, that's assuming you do want to stay there."

Zelda watched as his expression shifted again and she could see, clear as day, how anxious that idea made him. She could empathize. If she was thinking about this correctly, he'd already had to tell his story three separate times and had been, on each occasion, undoubtbly reminded of the reality of his situation. She wouldn't want to face having to do that yet again, if she were in his place.

"I could always accompany you Link, perhaps speak on your behalf? If that might make it more comfortable for you."

He remained silent as he turned his eyes to her, his expression shifting again. Relief, gratitude.

"I would greatly appreciate that, Princess. Thank you."

She smiled and turned her attention back to the road.

"Think nothing of it Link."

* * *

The people of Kakariko greeted them as they had the last time, delicious smelling food and smiling faces awaiting them the moment they arrived.

Though, neither Link nor Zelda could enjoy the villagers' hospitality. Not yet anyways.

As soon as they arrived, they cut their way through the small crowd of people and made a beeline to Lady Impa's House. The confused looks that followed them did not go unnoticed, though they did their best to ignore them.

Walking up the stairs of the house, Zelda spoke just loud enough for Link to hear.

"Are you certain you want to do this right away? Impa will still be here if you'd like to have something to eat first you know, Link."

He shook his head, even as his stomach growled loudly enough to be heard.

"No, I'd prefer to take care of this first."

Zelda glanced at his face and found his expression as impassive as it had ever been. She turned her attention to the door as they reached the top of the stairs and steeled herself as they entered the house, the doors swinging open under her touch.

"Princess Zelda, M-Master Link, welcome back!" Paya greeted as they entered, clambering to her feet from where she had been cleaning the floor.

Zelda felt a smile spread on her face. In the brief time that she had stayed in Kakariko previously, Paya had become a fast friend. While painfully shy when Link was even made mention of, she was a lively conversation partner on every other topic they discussed.

"Hello Paya. Hello Impa." Zelda greeted, Link right behind her as they stepped further into the house.

"Princess, Link, it's good to see both of you safely back. Paya and I were just about to come join everyone else in greeting you. How nice of you two to personally come escort us to your homecoming party."

Impa's eyes twinkled, the old woman pleased with her silly joke. In the weeks since Calamity's fall, Zelda had seen Impa's humorous streak become more and more pronounced. While normally appreciated, the sarcasm was to have no effect on the seriousness of what brought them there.

"Lady Impa, there is actually something urgent we've come to discuss with you. Um, privately." She made it a point to shoot Paya the most apologetic look she had in her arsenal as she spoke.

Paya, ever the one to wear her emotions on her sleeves, flushed deeply as she bowed and excused herself from the house once she put two and two together. Zelda sighed as she watched her go, mentally noting to speak with her later. She didn't want the other girl to think it was a personal slight against her, being asked to leave her own home.

"I'll speak with her later, Princess. Don't worry yourself about my granddaughter for the moment. Tell me, what is the urgent matter we must discuss?"

"Well…" Zelda's eyes darted to Link and continued only once he had nodded. Taking a deep breath, she explained what had been discovered on his visit to the Zora healers, Link removing his travel hood and presenting the mark when appropriate. She told Impa of how Link had visited the Springs of Power, Wisdom, and Courage with no change. She told her of how she had attempted to seal the mark with her own returned powers, again to no avail. She spoke about how Link wished to stay in Kakariko, if they would have him.

As Zelda finished speaking, Link clasped his hood back into place, and they waited for the old woman's response. After several beats of silence, Impa stood and hoped off her pile of pillows, the charms of her large hat tinkling as she did. She turned towards Link, her face hidden by the brim of her hat.

"Link," Impa began, "I am so sorry. This is a burden no one should have to bear, least of all you. Please, know that you are welcomed here with open arms here. Anything you may need will be provided, you need only ask."

"Thank you, Lady Impa. But if I could make one other request?" Link spoke for the first time since entering the house.

Impa made a gesture with her hand, prompting him to continue.

"Could there be a, um, certain amount of discretion with this? I'd like for the others in the village to not be told. At least, not until it's necessary. I don't want to unendingly scare anyone, not in their own home."

The old woman nodded, the charms of her hat clinking once more.

"I can certainly abide by that request. I only ask that I, in turn, have permission to decide when it becomes necessary to share this information with my village."

Link gave the small woman an unsure look as he adjusted his hood to sit correctly on his shoulders.

"I ask this of you only because of my duty as the Elder of Kakariko. Link, I remember seeing people return from the castle with marks like yours. Many of the Sheikah were lost to the same sickness in you. Should you choose to stay here for the remainder of your days, I am certain that there will come a time that I will need to tell the others about what is happening to you."

Zelda balked ever so slightly at Impa's frankness, though she supposed she should have expected it. Even when she had been younger, Impa had always been forward, almost to a fault.

"Of course, Lady Impa. I understand." Link answered her as he pulled his hood back over his head, concealing any expression his face might have had.

"Well then, I'd say that sounds like a reached agreement if I ever heard one. Shall we make our way to your party?"

"Wait a moment Impa, could I make a request of you as well?"

Zelda did not miss the small movement from the corner of her eyes as Link turned his head slightly towards her, certainly curious as to what she might ask.

"Of course, Princess, ask away."

Zelda stilled her hands, suddenly aware she had been wringing them together. She hated how easily her body language gave away her anxiousness. It was so frustrating at times.

"I was hoping to look at any resources or records that exist about the Calamity and the century that followed since its wake. I have some research that I would like to use those for as references."

She did not miss the raised eyebrow Impa gave her and Zelda silently pleaded that the elderly woman would not question her on the request. Least not in front of Link.

"…certainly, Princess. Paya and I will see what we can find for you tomorrow."

Zelda silently thanked the Goddesses as Impa shot her a pronounced 'We can chat about this later' look.

"Now then, since you two have gotten to make requests, let me make one of my own." Impa said, clapping her hands together, "Have some fun tonight. I don't doubt that there will be trying days ahead of us, but let's celebrate the victories we've had tonight, shall we?"

The Princess and the Hero nodded in unison and, without another word, left the house to join the welcome back party.

* * *

Paya had never really felt comfortable at community get-togethers. Even when it was just the villagers in attendance, gatherings of people always seemed to set her on edge. Well, more on edge than usual.

This time however, her underlying anxiousness was only made worse by the fact that there were non-villagers present. It was made almost unbearable by the fact that some of the non-villagers were men.

 _Young_ men, no less.

Doing everything in her power to remain out of their lines of sight, she had firmly planted herself by the cooking pot, her face half buried in her plate of rice and curry. Though her stomach fluttered every time one of the men so much approached the cooking pot, she did what she could to enjoy the food. It really was quite delicious.

Koko had once again volunteered to oversee the party's food. For such a young girl, she truly had a knack for cooking and menu planning.

"Paya, is Koko's curry no good for you? You've hardly touched it!"

Paya was brought from her thoughts at the sound of said young girl's voice. Koko stepped away from the pot, wiped her hands on a small apron tied around her waist and waited for Paya to answer.

"N-not at all Koko. It is very good. My stomach is just a little upset."

Koko nodded as she cupped her own cheek, as if deep in thought.

"Hmmm, Koko remembers Mother making a warm drink to help when my tummy was upset. It was creamy and sweet and always helped. Koko might have the ingredients at home to make it, if you need some Paya!"

Paya waved her a hand as if to dismiss the idea, but was still touched by the girl's concern.

"Oh no, Koko, don't go through the trouble. I-I'm sure I'll feel right as rain once I eat some more of your yummy food."

The younger girl gave Paya a grin and hopped up and down excitedly.

"You think Koko's food is good and yummy! That makes Koko so happy!"

"Oh, what's this I keep hearing about yummy food?"

Paya's heart fluttered at the sound of the voice.

"Link, Link, Link! Come here, come here!" Koko rocked on her feet, ushering him to come closer.

Paya turned her attention from her food and peeked out from under her bangs. As always, Link was the perfect image of a hero. Each part of his Hylian armor in its proper place, his traveling hood up just enough to shield his eyes, those true blue eyes, from the afternoon sun. She took a deep breath as he approached, doing her best to calm the butterflies in her stomach.

"Well, hello to you too Koko." Link greeted.

"Come on Link, sit down right here. Koko will make you a plate!" She responded, pulling Link to the log bench Paya was seated at, urging him to sit.

Paya took a bite of her food, trying to give herself a chance to remain calm as the Hero sat dawn right next to her. He was just another person, albeit a very handsome person, she could do this.

'Just talk with him like you do to Grandmother, ask about the weather, just say somethi-'

"Hello again, Paya." His greeting nearly had her choking on her food, forcing a cough from her.

"H-hello again, Master Link!" She finally said managed as she finished coughing.

"Eat a little too quick there huh? I've done that before when the foods been just too tasty."

Paya nodded in silent agreeance, hating how she could feel the tips of her ears redden.

"Oh, u-um, Master Link, I didn't get to ask yet, but how w-was your trip?" She managed, pleased with herself. It was the quickest she had recovered from a sudden encounter with the Hero of Hyrule.

He didn't get a chance to answer her as Koko returned, thrusting a plate of steaming food in his face.

"Try it, try it!"

He immediately obeyed the girl's request, making a show of chewing slowly to savor it.

"Well, tell Koko what you think!" Koko said, hands balled and pressed to her chest in anticipation.

"This curry tastes fantastic, Koko. Tell me, how'd you make it?"

Paya wasn't sure she had ever seen Koko smile so brightly. At least, not since her mother had passed.

"Well, there was- we had a traveling merchant pass through here a few days ago! Link she had so many ingredients that Kakariko can't grow or catch! Koko used her own allowance to buy the secret ingredients, though Papa had to help just a little bit."

"Oh, and what are your secret ingredients?" Link asked through a mouthful of rice.

The small girl beckoned him closer and he readily complied, leaning forward so she could whisper loudly into his ear.

"Goron Spice and Endura Mushrooms, that's my secret this time."

From what little of his face she could see at that moment, Paya could tell he was smiling and it made the nerves in her stomach dance again.

As Koko finished telling Link the secrets of her curry, Cado called to her, asking her to bring the ladle back so he could get seconds.

"Koko has a very important job to do, please eat every last bite ok?!" She said, bounding back to the pot with the ladle, making a show to Cado of how to properly dish out her food.

For several minutes after, the ate in a silence that Paya found comfortable. Perhaps she had finally gotten over most of the nerves she felt when around him. They had never settles down so quickly before.

"So, you asked about my trip, right Paya?"

As her heart fluttered yet again, she knew she still had a long way to go.

"Y-yes! Um, you went to Zora's Domain, r-right? Did anything interesting happen?"

The silence that follows her question stretches for so long she began to worry he hadn't heard the question. Just as she opened her mouth to repeat herself, he answered her.

"I suppose not. I truly only went to get the Princess, Symin, and Purah there safely. I'm no scholar, so I wasn't much help fixing the Divine Beast."

Paya slowly chewed on the bite of food in her mouth. It might have just been her, but she could have sworn Link's tone of voice sounded somehow strained, maybe even a little sad.

She decided she must be imagining things when he finally turned to face her. He had that wonderful smile on his face again.

"So, tell me, what's been going on here? Koko made mention of merchants coming through, did you get anything?"

She shyly returned his smile and nodded as she slowly began to tell him about all the things she'd seen and how much she wished she could have bought it all.

No, get-togethers truly were not Paya's forte. But, since Link was there, perhaps she might be able to fully enjoy herself.

* * *

Link found the expanse of a field before him, his feet lightly bearing him across it. He knew the sun should still be in the sky, somewhere. When his eyes turned skyward, what light should have been there was blotted out by an unnatural darkness that was only made worse by billowing clouds of black smoke. The air was hot and full of ash as houses went up in flames in the distance.

His sharp ears pick up the sound of clashing metal, of pained screaming, of dying cries. He slowed his run to a jog, the smoke of a nearby burning house nearly blinding him as he came to a full stop.

He recognized this scene.

He knew these sounds, these smells. This wasn't a battle, this was a massacre. This wasn't something happening now, he'd already lived this.

The sound of a scream cut through his thoughts and he turned in time to see a man struck down by a Bokoblin and its blade. Blood splattered, turned the green grass red, and the boy was dead. He wanted to help him, run to his aid, but instead, his feet carried him on through the field, pumping underneath him as he began to run again.

 _You ran from this field. You ran from these people who needed your help. Don't you remember? Why would you do that? Aren't you the Hero?_

The voice that wasn't his own rang in his ears and its cruel words struck his heart cold.

 _Why wouldn't a hero help those in need?_

No, wait, that wasn't right. He had only run because he had to protect the Princess, that was his sole job, her safety had always come first-

 _Then why does watching this make you feel guilty? Innocent men have no need to feel guilty._

Another cry echoes around him, a woman screaming out in fear and pain.

"Please, please, won't someone help? Goddesses please, someone help me!"

 _Unless, of course, you know you could have done more here. Maybe saved at least one person from this hell. In your heart of hearts, that's what you feel, isn't it?_

"I couldn't have done more." He tried to reason with the bodiless voice, clutching a hand to his chest as the high-pitched squeal of a child pierced through him like a hot poker.

"I don't want to die! Mom, mom where are you!? It's hot, it's hot, I'm burning! Someone, anyone, dad, mom, please help me! It hurts!"

 _Then tell me, why are you angry at yourself? I can see the deepest parts of your heart, boy. Even the parts you don't remember._

"Stop it." He whispered, his hand clutching at the fabric of his tunic tighter, his knuckles turning white.

More voices cry out. More blood pooled on the ground. More black smoke stung his eyes. He continued to run.

 _Tell me, they call you the Hero of Hyrule, right? Where were you when these people, your people, needed you?_

"I said stop it."

The field was now more red then green. The sky was darker then the deepest night. The air burned his lungs. The screaming grew fainter. He continued to run.

 _Where were you when scenes like this played out all over Hyrule. Day after day. Year after year. Where were you?_

He remained silent as a final cry of pain is cut short with a sickening gurgle, its owner no doubt choking on their own blood. Where _had_ he been? Why hadn't he helped? He'd known the reason just a little bit ago, why couldn't he remember? Those questions swarmed his mind as he continued to r-

 _Where were you, Hero?_

Link's eyes snapped open and for a brief moment, he was completely disoriented. He was no longer running in a blood bathed field, nor did he find himself in his bed at the inn.

He quickly sat up, his heart pounding in his ears as he tried to fight a wave of panic. His initial fear only lasts for a few seconds once he recognized where he was.

He clambered to his feet, the rough texture of the stone underneath scraping his heels, and stepped from the alcove of the Ta'Loh Naeg Shrine. Looking down at Kakariko, it lay quiet as the first rays of morning light peeked over the surrounding mountains.

The last thing he could remember was slowly drifting off to sleep, exhausted by the festivities that . He had no recollection of waking up nor of walking here.

Without further pause, he made his way back to the Inn, thankful that no one yet seemed to be out and about. Perhaps the party last night had left some of them inclined to sleep in today. For that he was grateful.

He carefully made his way to the Inn, doing everything in his power to not wake the Innkeeper at the front desk as he crept back to the private room he'd been given. He carefully tiptoed his way along the wooden floors, relaxing only once the door was carefully closed behind him.

As he did, he sunk to the floor, letting his confusion finally sink in. He let his legs splay out in front of him and pressed his hands to his face, firmly pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes as his thoughts raced.

What in the world had happened? Why would he have gotten up on the middle of the night? Why had-

His thoughts are interrupted as a voice murmured behind him. He whipped his head around and, in a most ungraceful fashion, scuttled away from the door. The voice quietly murmured in his ear again and he was on his feet, alert and eyes bright. The whispering continued, all of it too low for him to make out any words. He firmly pressed his hands against his ears, but the noise still persisted, morphing into some horrific buzzing in his head.

What the _hell_ was doing that?

He didn't have a chance to ponder it much further as, if prompted by the thought, the low noise stopped entirely.

He removed his hands from his ears, and absent-mindedly began to rub at the back of his neck.

The Blight mark felt ice cold to his touch and seemed to pulse, just ever so slightly. He knew, instinctively, that whatever had happened to him was directly thanks to this _thing_.

He crossed his arms as he sat on his bed, hanging his head, wondering if this was what Meeda had meant. Was this the start of the symptoms he would eventually be unable to hide? He sighed and stretched his neck, trying to rid himself of such thoughts.

He had to continue. There was no choice.

There had never been any other choice but to continue.

Even so, he could not help his thoughts turning to the small, unassuming bottle Meeda had given him. He so hoped he it would never be anything other than a passing thought to him.

* * *

Zelda flipped through the aged books, careful to not cause further damage to the old and dog-eared pages.

Impa, as always, had come through for her. It had only been a few hours since she, with the help of Paya, presented her with stacks upon stacks of archival information.

As was her nature, Zelda had immediately torn into the information like a child to sweets. She read through firsthand accounts of those from Kakariko that had been there to see Calamity Ganon arise. She read through medical documents describing the care and treatment of specific wounds inflicted by monsters.

Page after page, she read about the pain and suffering her people had endured in her absence.

She had to steel herself, time and time again, as she read through the accounts and records. Again and again, she paused her reading to collect herself. She had a purpose, a mission, for reading this material and it was not to make her heart ache. She knew she would have time to grieve for the lives lost and for those forever changed. But not now, not yet.

It was in the fifth book that she finally came across what she had been looking for in the first place. Though she could not say she was pleased with what she found.

Page after page depicted the symptoms of the Blight, of how to slow it, of how to properly dispose of an infected body.

There were even graphically accurate drawings made to show what the spread of a case of Blight looked like in the progressing weeks. From first exposure of just a darken mark on the skin to the final stages, where those afflicted looked more akin to a monster rather than a person.

But there existed nothing on cures, not even notes on failed attempts.

It was just like Sidon had told her of the Zora archives; the information was as unsettling as it was thorough. She put the book aside, saving it for a second look through later. She sighed and turned her attention back to the pile before her.

Her heart was heavy, but she could not let herself falter. She would mourn the century of pain her people had endured, would grieve their deaths, would ruminate on how she had failed them later, once Link was d-

She slapped her hands against her cheeks a few times and shook her head, reveling in the sting the action left behind.

There was no time for such dark thoughts.

Link was still alive and needed her help. She could not let herself fail him again.

* * *

After his sleepwalking romp to the shrine, Link found himself hesitant to even attempt resting with his door unlocked. As the days passed, he began to find it harder and harder to leave his room, save for the need to eat and relieve his bowels.

His first indication that he might be better off shut up in his room was on the third day of his return.

He was invited to attend a hunting excursion with Dorian and two other travelers passing through the village. He had accepted gladly, thinking that some fresh air might do him some good.

Though he had only managed a few hours of restless sleep the night prior, he still found himself up before the crack of dawn, hunting for game in the woods surrounding Kakariko. The purpose of the outing required a dead silence from the entire party, something that Link was thankful for.

It was an hour into their trip that they came upon something worth hunting: a buck, and a big one at that, stood just thirty feet in front of them. Link was the first to spot it, signaling the other three to halt and silently motioned to the animal. Dorian gave him a thumb's up and gestured for him to take the shot. He'd been the one to spot it, it was only fair.

Link nodded and knocked an arrow, careful to be a silent as he did so.

The buck flicked its ears and walked a few paces before lowering its head, likely to for a bite of grass. Link drew the bow back and aimed for its heart.

Just as he was about to let the arrow fly, the buck raised its head and he froze.

In the few seconds its head had been out of sight, the animal's face had somehow decayed completely. Its skin was sunken in around the eyes and had completely fallen away from its snout, revealing the graying bone beneath. What must have been dozens of flies swarmed around it, filling the air with a low buzzing noise. He could almost smell the decay from it. His hands trembled ever so slightly as it turned its attention to him. Its eyes, long rotted and fallen from the sockets, stared at him, stared right through him with a vicious hunger-

He let the arrow fly and it hit its mark, the creature toppling with a single gasp of breath.

"Wonderful shot Link! Let's go collect your catch."

As if his head was on a swivel, he snapped his attention towards the older man, confused. Hadn't he seen it? That _thing_ wasn't meant to caught and eaten, it had been some sort of monster, something that you needed to kill before it killed you.

Still, the other three in his party approached the beast without fear. He returned his bow to its place on his back and chased after them, words on the tip of his tongue to warn them from drawing closer.

But as he approached the downed animal, it was just that: an animal. It showed no signs of the decay and rot he had been so sure was there only moments before. Its dark eyes stared up at him, vacant and dead; why would his senses play such a cruel trick on him?

"What's the matter? You look pale all the sudden."

Link swallowed and tore his attention away from those dead, glassy eyes.

"It's nothing, just a little tired still."

As they began to break the animal down, Link did his best to ignore the distinct pulsing he felt along his neck and the almost too quiet whispers in his ears.

The days that followed turned into a haze.

It was a haze filled with sleepless nights as Meeda's potions seemed to grow less and less affective every night he took them. What little sleep he did manage to get was filled with smoke and pain and fear, without fail.

It was a haze where he found himself politely declining further invitations from the villagers; to go fishing, to go for a walk on a lovely day, to join them at a meal. He'd even turned down Impa's invitation to join her and Paya for tea. He didn't want his senses to trick him again and at least in his room, he knew what and where everything was. It was a flawed logic, he knew. But every time he even considered venturing outside for anything other than the essentials, his thoughts turned back to that buck and its dead eyes.

It was a haze that his sense of taste seemed to somehow dull with every passing day. It came to a point where it seemed no amount of salt or honey or spice seemed to touch his tongue. Where his appetite became near non-existent because, he found himself thinking, why eat more than he had to if everything tasted like nothing? Eating had become another chore, like making the bed or brushing his hair.

It was a haze where the whispering he knew couldn't be real grew loud enough for him to make out what it was saying. Mostly nonsense, like songs he must have known Before, but only the chorus lines played over and over. Every now and then though, something broke through the nonsense and stabbed at sore spots of his heart. Asking him again and again ' _Where did you go, Hero?_ '. He was grateful that the whispering never lasted for long.

It's on the ninth day of their return that he finally took the time to finish unpacking his bag. At the very bottom, almost forgotten, he found the journal Zelda had gifted him only a few short weeks ago. He gently rubbed the soft leather bound book as he placed it on the desk of the room. It was soon joined by the inkwell, miraculously still unopened.

As he finished the last of his unpacking, he turned his sights back on the book, sitting down at the desk after a moment of thought.

He flipped it open to the last page he had written on, reading through his last entry. He snorted at his previous musings about stew and where he had learned to make it. He pulled the quill from where it had been tucked into the book and, with a certain amount of force, opened the inkwell. He turned to a new page and wrote without stopping.

 _ **I know the last time I wrote in this thing, I said I didn't have a decent way to tell my story. I figure, now is as good enough a time to try and work that out. Figure out how to be honest about how this feels, even if it's just in writing. So much has changed in such a short bit of time.**_

 _ **I'm told I'm going to die. Not in some great battle, but because of a little bit of Malice. Because of a tiny mark. It's incredible how something so small can make such a difference…**_

 _ **I don't want to die. I don't want to give up. But I've visited the Springs of Courage, Wisdom, and Power and nothing happened. Princess Zelda tried using her sealing powers. Not only did it not help, it hurt. It hurt so badly I couldn't stay conscious.**_

 _ **I know I need to be strong. Even with the few memories of my life from Before, I've always known I had to be strong. But it's growing harder and harder by the day to stay optimistic. To put on a brave face and try to act like my days aren't numbered.**_

 _ **I know Lady Impa said I need only ask for help and I would receive it, but I don't even know what to ask for. What I want is to not be sick. I want to be well again. But the Goddesses only know if a cure can ever be devised for this, let alone help me before I'm gone.**_

 _ **I've had nightmares almost every time I've slept in the past few weeks. I am constantly tired, but I'm growing weary about trying to sleep at all. I keep being shown these horrible, terrible things and it all feels so real in the moment. I keep dying in these dreams. As of late, I keep seeing people die, nameless and often faceless. Their screams make my heart heavy, even when I am awake. It turns my stomach just to think of it. I keep thinking I could have helped them. Might be able to save them somehow.**_

 _ **I try not to think about the reality of my situation, but there are reminders everywhere.**_

 _ **There is a whispering murmur that I've begun to hear. I often can't make out what it says, but even shutting my ears does not deafen me further to it. I've even begun to see things that I know cannot be real. Just a few days ago, I went hunting and saw a deer that looked like a monster. Dead and rotten and wrong. I shot it, killed it in fear. But when I drew closer, it was just a deer.**_

 _ **I don't want to admit this, but I am scared. I'm terrified. I don't want to die-**_

Link stopped his writing, his hands grabbing at the back of his neck, squeezing the cold flesh he found there. He stared down at his words, the ink still wet, unsure if writing had made him feel better or worse.

He didn't have time to think on it further as the whispers started in his ears again and he groaned in frustration. Not again. Couldn't he just have a single moment to himself?!

Tired and increasingly annoyed, he quickly stood from the desk and pulled his tunic over his head, casting it aside. He checked the lock on the door, making sure it was tightly secured, before he pulled one of the remaining sleeping potions he had from a drawer in the desk and downed the entire thing in one gulp. He did not need to change into his sleep pants, for he had bothered to change out of them that day. Preparations made, he laid down in his bed, defiantly covering his head with pillow.

Though it did nothing to help the murmurs in his head, the pillow did block out the early evening light that still peeked through the curtains of his window. Even if the sleep was nearly guaranteed to be restless, he was going to get what he could. Whispering be damned!

Reveling in his tiny victory against an invisible enemy, it was not long there after that the potion began to take affect and he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Zelda lay on the floor of Paya's room, papers strewed about around her. She bushed a stray hair from her face and flipped the braid her long hair was currently plaited in to her other shoulder. Her eyes scanned her notes again as she yawned.

"Princess. Princess are you up here?" Zelda's attention was pulled towards the entrance of the room as Paya stepped through the doorway.

"Good evening, Paya." She greeted the other girl, immediately turning back to her work.

"Princess, what are you still doing up? It's so late…"

Zelda pointedly kept her focus forward, looking at the book she had been using as reference, reading the same line for what felt like the twentieth time.

She'd been reading and searching through these documents nearly non-stop since she'd arrived and she still had nothing concrete to show for her efforts. The thought kept bubbling up in the back of her mind that this situation felt painfully familiar. She'd had years to devote herself to unlocking her sealing powers and she had still been too late on that front.

This task she had set before herself, however, had a much more pressing timeline. She had no time to rest, she knew there had to be something she could do. She just had to find the information and put it together.

"Princess, please, why don't we go to sleep-"

"No thank you, Paya. I still have another book I'd like to read through. If you need me to move downstairs I certainly can. I can make do." Zelda's tone was unintentionally curt and she visibly cringed as the worlds left her mouth.

She sighed and pushed herself off the floor into a sitting position. She really _had_ gotten rusty with speaking to people.

"That, I'm very sorry Paya, that did not come out right. Let me try again: I would like to stay up a little longer. If you need me to move downstairs so that you can sleep, I'm happy to do that."

Paya shook her head, clasping her hands together.

"Please Princess, it's alright. I-It's just, I've seen how hard you've been working. You're as dedicated to your work as I am to mine. I'm not sure what you've been researching, but surely it's not more important than getting a good night's rest."

Zelda did her best to keep her expression blank and was mindful to not let her hands wring together themselves in worry. This _was_ more important than resting. It truly was.

But how could she convey that without divulging what had happened to Link?

"Paya-"

Zelda did not get to finish as a rapid knocking filled the house from the front door. They both turned to the doorway of the room and quickly made their way down the stairs as another series of knocks sounded.

Paya had already opened the door as Lady Impa was roused from her room, surprisingly spry for her age.

On the other side, the three women were greeted by the pale and panicked face of Ollie from the Inn.

"Ollie, what's wrong?" Impa asked, closing the distance between her and the door with a quickness Zelda would not have expected from her.

"L-Lady Impa, t-the room, oh Goddesses, there was a ruckus a-and I tried to open the door b-but it was locked from the inside and I-I had to break the knob a-and so many things, e-everything w-was broken and-"

"Ollie, please, take a breath and then tell me what's happened." Impa interrupted.

The younger man followed her suggestion and took a deep breath before beginning again.

"It's Master Link, Lady Impa. It sounded like he was fighting someone in his room before I could get in. The room is…everything is destroyed, like there was a struggle of some sort and he was just gone."

A sudden, all-encompassing coldness wrapped itself around Zelda's heart and her breath froze in her chest.


	5. False Hope

_**Trigger warning: This particular chapter depicts self-harming behaviors. Please be warned of that before proceeding.**_

* * *

He walked down a path he did not recognize, thin, dead trees reaching up into a never ending dark sky all around him. The air was cold, almost frigid, and his breath came from his mouth as little puffs of whiteness.

He walked down this path, his naked feet freezing in the cold, wet muck that made up the ground.

He walked down the path and listened to the voices of the dead forest, their words chilling him more than the air ever could.

"Suffer…suffer with us."

"Pain…feel our agony."

"Where were you? Hero, where were you?"

He could see countless bodies entangled with the roots of the trees, each one grotesque in their own way.

Sunken, rotting eyes stared up at him. Mouths hung open in final screams of pain, the skin of each face a sickening grey. Charred arms reached skyward, the burnt corpses still seeking to escape their charred graves.

A child's head hung to their neck by just the smallest bit of skin, their hair stained red where their face had been caved in by some terrible blow.

What might have once been a woman stared up with unseeing eyes from the muck that made up the ground, her hair mated and clumped around her neck.

Body after body lay contorted in unnatural ways, spines broken, arms dislocated, legs woven into the roots themselves.

Link walked on, taking in every nightmarish sight his eyes fell on.

"Why didn't you help us?"

"Where were you, Hero?"

"It hurts, it hurts."

"Bear our pain, Hero."

"Take our agony."

"Where were you, Hero?"

Their voices rang out around him, cacophonous and deafening.

Their eyes, missing, sunken, burnt, bulging, rotten, all stared at him. Thousands of eyes bore into him, silently pleading him to help them, save them, asking him where he'd been.

This…this was his fault. He was the Hero. Why hadn't he helped them? Where had he been?

"Wouldn't have happened…"

"…if you had been here."

He watched as their arms grew, stretched to inhuman lengths, their fingers scratching and digging into the skin of his arms as he walked. Each finger that touched him cut into his flesh and some part of him relished the fact that he was finally being punished for his failures.

"Deserve it."

"How could you be a hero?"

"Feel our pain."

"Rotten man."

"You let us die."

His arms began to sting with a pain that was real, so real, and so very much deserved-

As had become customary in the past weeks, Link awoke with a sudden start. He sat not in his comfortable bed at the Inn, but in Kakariko's cemetery, shirtless as he had been when he went to sleep and with a sharp paring knife in hand.

He dropped the blade, his hands shaking as he realized the pain in his dreams had seemed real for a reason. His arms, heavily concentrated to his biceps, were littered with cuts and scratches of varying sizes. They were fresh and still bleeding, much to his own horror. He stood up, unable to contain his fear as he took in his surroundings.

Not again. Why had this happen again? When had he woken up? He didn't remember doing this. He would never do this. Why would he do something like this?

 _Look what I can make you do, Hero. Can you imagine what else I might suggest you do in your sleep? You can hear my commands so much better when you let your guard down, thank you for that._

The whispering that had been mostly nonsense to him since it had begun suddenly rung in his ears, clear as day. Just as it did in his nightmares.

Hugging his arms to his chest, he made his way back to the village, his mind racing.

Maybe no one had noticed that he was gone. Maybe he could clean himself up. Maybe no one had to see this. Maybe he didn't have to make people worry.

 _Don't think so, my boy. You're the Hero. You're too important for others not to see what you've done to yourself._

"Shut up, just shut up!" He whispered hoarsely as he tried to quell his panic.

As he rounded the corner of the hill that secluded the graveyard from the rest of the village, he heard people calling for him, one voice standing out from the others.

"Link!? Link, where are you?!"

"Princess, I really must insist that you go back to Lady Impa's house. If someone did attack Master Link, we can't risk-"

"I already said I would do no such thing Dorian, now help me, please. Link, where are you?!"

 _What will she think of you when she sees this, I wonder?_

He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and stuck to the shadows of the nearby tree. As the faint glow of a lantern drew closer, he called out, hating how weak his voice sounded.

"I'm here."

The light stopped at the sound of his voice and immediately turned towards him.

"Link, oh thank goodness, there you are." Zelda rushed forward, holding the lantern high over her head, trying to cast as much light on him as she could.

He skirted away from the edge of the light, pressing his back against the tree as a wave of shame threatened to choke him.

"Master Link, everyone was so worried. Your room at the Inn, it looks as if you were attacked. Please, come back to the village with us. Everyone will be so glad to see you safe."

 _Will they though, all things considered? What sort of man makes his way to a cemetery to harm his own flesh? What will they think when they see?_

Link did his best to push the voice to the back of his mind, his body shaking.

"Link? Please, why won't you come into the light?"

He hated that she said those words with fear in her voice.

"I-" he swallowed past the lump in his throat again, "I don't want you to see me. Not like this. P-please go to the village without me. I-I'll be back there soon."

He could hear dainty feet shuffle closer and he turned his head away just as the light was shone on him. He hugged his arms closer to his torso and knew that his hands were not nearly big enough to hide all the offending damage done to his skin.

He heard Zelda gasp and the light faltered for a moment as she passed the lantern to Dorian. He could not bring himself to look at her as she closed the distance between them.

"Link…Link, what happened? You're covered in blood."" Her voice was soft and full of concern he felt he didn't deserve.

His shoulders shook under her gentle touch and his mouth tightened into a thin line. He would not cry, could not cry, not here, not now.

 _She's too good for the likes of you. Too many of the things you just_ _ **aren't**_ _. She'll never look at you the same after this._

He sank away from the hand on his shoulder, folded in on himself at the base of the tree and pressed his palms against his face. He felt Zelda sink to the ground with him, close enough to feel her presence.

"Link, please. We want to help you. What happened? What did this to you?" It was Dorian this time that spoke.

He tried to stop his shaking, tried to tell his legs to run away, but his body refused to obey.

 _Your shame is delicious, boy, and well deserved. How could someone like you be the Hero?_

"It's alright, let's get you to Lady Impa's house. Those cuts need to be cleaned-"

"I-I did this." He finally answered, unable to conceal the anger or disgust he felt.

The silence that followed was the thickest and heaviest he had ever felt. It felt like me might begin to drown, to suffocate in that silence at any moment. They would hate him, how couldn't they, not after a display like this-

His thoughts stopped the moment a pair of thin arms gently encircled his shoulders and a soft forehead rested against his temple.

He shivered uncontrollably against Zelda's warmth, a whine that was nearly a sob breaking from his chest.

"Dorian, would you please let the others know we found Link. Once you do that, let Impa know where I am so she doesn't worry."

"Of course, Princess." The sound of his retreating feet was a relief to Link as his body shook harder, fighting against the wave of tears that so desperately wanted to fall.

The sound of Dorian's footsteps were long gone by the time he spoke again.

"I am s-so sorry." Even muffled against his hands, his voice sounded watery and weak, almost pathetic.

Zelda's shifted herself to be closer to him, moving her head to the crook of his neck.

"There is nothing to apologize for, Link. You're hurting, hurting much more deeply than anyone ever should. I wish could take some of this from you. I so wish I could lessen your suffering, even just a little."

He lowered his hands from his face, still unwilling to look at her as tears threaten to fall from his eyes. Tentatively, he rested his cheek against the crown of her head, focusing on the softness of her locks and tried to ignore the nasty voice in his ear that he had, unfortunately, already started becoming accustomed to.

 _She's far, far too good for you, boy. Your heart knows this and yet, it still feels something for her. How awful must that be?_

"May I ask…what happened?" She asked, pulling away from him ever so slightly.

It was several long beats later that he felt himself composed enough to speak.

"I-I'm not sure. I, um, I took a-a sleeping potion a-and went to bed and-"

 _\- fingers scratching and digging into the skin of his arms-_

"- next thing I know, I'm awake in the cemetery. W-with a knife and, um, I dropped it, I think. I-I don't even remember getting out of bed. What i-if I do something like this again? What if I do something w-worse-"

Zelda shushed him then, the warmth of her breath against his shoulder enough to calm him ever so slightly.

"This isn't your fault. None of this is. I-"

It was at that moment that Dorian returned, announcing his arrival with "Princess, I've informed Lady Impa of your location and the state of Master Link's condition. She has called everyone back to the Inn, save for you and Master Link. Do you need anything else before I make my way there?"

That cold lump of fear reformed in his stomach, filling him with shame. Surely…surely Impa had decided it was now her duty to tell the village what was happening to him.

 _Why shouldn't she? You're turning into a danger, why would anyone want you to stay?_

Link turned his face away from Zelda as she broke contact with him to address the guard fully.

"No, but thank you Dorian."

Link could feel the older man's gaze linger on him for just a moment too long before he jogged away once more. The cold lump in his stomach turned sour as another wave of disgust washed over him, the pressure behind his eyes worsening.

What would he say to the other villagers? What would they all think of him when they learned what he'd done? What would happen to him? Where would he go when they demanded him to leave-

His thoughts were stopped cold once more as, having turned back towards him, Zelda placed a hand on his forearm and gently squeezed. He shut his eyes for a moment and focused his attention on the warmth of her hand, grounded himself with it.

When he opened his eyes, his vision was watery, but he still refused to let his pain overwhelm him. Even in such an embarrassing state, he was still the Hero and had to try to act as such.

"I am so sorry, Princess. T-this isn't…I shouldn't-"

The hand on his arm squeezed gently once more.

"Don't be, Link. Ishould have tried to help you more, before it came to this. I was so busy researching a way to help you in the future that I forgot to help you in the present. You've always been one to try to grin and bear your pain. You've always put others needs and feelings before your own, even for something like this. You've always been so selfless so please, just this once Link, let yourself be selfish."

"I can't, Princess. I'm the Hero. I-I shouldn't even let anyone see me like this. _You_ shouldn't have to see me like this. I-It's not my part of m-my role-"

In an intimate gesture, that under normal circumstances would have made his face flush, Zelda cut his words off as she moved her hand from his forearm and used it to gently cup his cheek. He instinctively leaned into the touch, suddenly and painfully aware of just how starved he was for a comforting touch. With that same gentleness, she turned his face towards her, looking him square in the eyes as she did so.

"Link, please listen to me and know what I say is the truth. No one in this village had an obligation to search for you tonight. But they did. They did that, not because you're the Hero, but because you're _you_. They want to help you as you are Link, not just when you're out saving the world. Please, let them help you. Let _me_ help you. Not as the Princess but…but as your friend. As Zelda."

His breath caught in his chest at her words and he tried to offer her a smile in thanks. But instead, his features tightened around his eyes and he is unable to stop an onslaught of shuddering sobs from shaking his shoulders. He leaned more heavily into the hand still cupping his cheek and finally, _finally_ , he allowed himself to weep.

Again and again, Link apologized. For what, he was no longer certain.

Again and again, Zelda forgave him. On behalf of who or what, she would never know.

They sat together under the tree for a long while after, the sound of crying filtering into the night air.

They sat there, not as the Princess and the Hero.

But as Zelda and Link.

* * *

Dorian watched in silence as the denizens of Kakariko congregated at the Inn. Several of the older citizens sat on the beds just next to the welcome desk, trying and failing to stifle their yawns. Others stood about, eyes darting to the door every so often, waiting for Lady Impa to join them with anticipation. Whispered conversations filled the air, the overall tone confused and concerned.

Being roused from their beds at the earliest hours of the morning to search for the Hero of Hyrule had certainly been interesting. For Lady Impa to call for a town meeting right after she declared that he had been found, even more so.

All whispering stopped immediately as the main door to the Inn opened and every head turned towards the sound. It was Lady Impa that stepped in, still in her night clothes and her hair plaited for sleep. As soon as she crossed the threshold of the room, the questions began.

"Lady Impa please, why has this meeting been called? What is going on?"

"Tell us, is Master Link alright?"

"Was he attacked? Ollie said his room was ransacked."

"Do you think it was the Yiga Clan?"

She held up her hand and halted all conversation around her.

"Silence everyone, please. I can tell you with absolute certainty that he was, in fact _not_ attacked in his room."

"But his room-"

"Is a mess, yes I know." Impa gently interrupted Ollie.

Dorian saw the younger man bashfully rub at the back of his neck, noticeably embarrassed.

"The reason for me calling this meeting both does and does not pertain to what has happened tonight. There isn't an easy way to say this, so I will be frank with you all. The Hero is sick. Very sick."

The villagers looked at one another in confusion and shock, but no one spoke as she continued.

"During his battle with Calamity Ganon, he was infected by the beast's Malice. It has been slowly working its way through him since he fought it. Just as the Calamity was a parasite to Hyrule, it's Malice too acts as a parasite to those touched by it. It will cause him do and say things he never normally would, will take him over completely, and will eventually kill him."

The whispering had started again before Impa had even finished, every voice laced with disbelief.

"Is there nothing we can do to h-help him, Grandmother? Surely, there must be _something_ we can do?" Surprisingly, Paya was the first to speak loudly enough to be heard, her voice tinged with pain.

Impa closed her eyes and sighed.

"Paya, my dear, he was touched by the very darkness that made up Ganon's being. There were others, years ago, who were infected by that same evil, many of them from our village. There was never a cure found for it, even in the century since that evil clawed its way into the world."

It was then that the room fully erupted in noise as almost every villager simultaneously began to pose questions to Impa or to each other.

Dorian however, remained silent and contributed nothing to the discussions around him, deep in thought. He had so hoped his eyes had been playing tricks on him in the dark. Had pleaded with the Goddesses that he hadn't seen the mark of the Blight on the young man's shoulders. But Lady Impa's words confirmed his suspicion and it made his heart sink.

Years ago, when he was a new member of the Yiga Clan, there had been a fellow member who, in a show of her dedication to the Great Calamity Ganon, had purposefully infected herself with its Malice. She'd stolen away to the castle and returned weeks later, a pattern of black lighting spread across her face. She spoke of visions the Calamity had granted her of its future victory. Had told them of how her sight had been shifted, how the Blight had given her the ability to see things as they really were.

Dead and decaying and dark.

Master Kohga had outwardly rejoiced at the woman's dedication to the clan's cause, exalted her as an example to be followed. He did this and simultaneously sent her on a mission to find a town, any town, to die in so that Ganon's influence might spread.

Dorian had, at the time, been impressed by the woman's willingness to sacrifice herself. How wonderful would it be, he remembered thinking, to die in true service to the Calamity?

He now knew Kohga simply did not want her in the Yiga Hideout when she expired, did not want the Malice to spread among their ranks, to dwindle their numbers. He was older, wiser and now knew that, as with most things he'd been taught in the Yiga Clan, it had just been an excuse to glorify the suffering of others.

He wouldn't wish what Link was going through on anyone, save for the person responsible for his wife's death.

He was brought from his musings as the crowd around him was silenced by Lady Impa once more.

"Please, everyone remain calm. I brought you here tonight not to panic you, but to prepare you. The Hero has asked to stay here in Kakariko for the remainder of his days, however long that may be. He never hid his intentions and came to me on the first day of his return from Zora's Domain to explain what had happened to him."

"But Lady Impa," Cado began, "why were we not told sooner? Surely we could have been of better help to him before now?!"

Several heads nodded in agreement as he spoke.

"I understand your concern Cado, but please understand that the Hero asked me to keep his condition private until I deemed it necessary to say something. He asked this of me, by his own admission, because he did not want to worry or burden the people of this village with the knowledge of his condition until absolutely necessary."

The room was silent for a beat before Ollie spoke again.

"Shouldn't we be concerned? Lady Impa, his room isn't just a mess. It was _destroyed_ , it will easily be a month before it can be rented out again because of what was done to it. If you're telling us he did all that damage on his own, how can we be certain that he may not do it again? How can we-"

"Ollie, you would have us abandon him? After everything he's done for Hyrule?" Trissa, the general store owner, interrupted with a raised brow.

"I mean-"

"Not just Hyrule, he's done so much for this village alone! You do know he's the one who helped me wrangle my cuccos when they escaped, right?" Cado said.

"Yes, I know Cado-"

"And he brought me fireflies, just because I said I missed seeing them!" Lasli chimed in.

"Well, ok that's-"

"H-he also stayed with me after t-the heirloom was stolen from Grandmother's house. Just because I was scared! He didn't hesitate to do that when I asked it of him." Paya spoke up again.

"N-no, please everyone wait! Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. It's just…h-how do we stay safe? How do we keep _him_ safe, too? Lady Impa, you said this illness would cause him to do things he normally wouldn't. W-who's to say it won't have him attacking a person next time and not just inanimate objects?"

Dorian kept his expression impassive as the image of blood and cut covered arms sprung to mind. His heart sank further as he thought of how ashamed Link sounded in admitting those injuries were done by his own hand.

He thought of how the young man had never divulged the secret of his past connection to the Yiga Clan to anyone, not even to the Princess. How he had never asked Dorian for anything in return for chasing off the Yiga member that had threatened Dorian's family and life. Had assured him that anyone would have done the same, he was just at the right place at the right time.

Didn't the Hero realize how much he had done for Dorian, for his small family, with that one act of kindness?

He thought about how Cottla asked him time and time again if he knew when the Hero was going to stop by to play with her again _-He's even better at hide and seek then Koko is Papa!-_

He thought of how Koko had told him so excitedly about Link saying her curry was delicious and thinking aloud what should she try to make next- _Maybe Koko can make him a pie! Papa, do you think he likes pie?-_

His mind raced with these thoughts, these memories, these acts of kindness Link had done time and time again. Never asking for anything in return, so certain that anyone would have done the same, believing in the best of the world that had turned Dorian's heart so cold years ago-

"I will be his guard."

It was the first time he had spoken since entering the Inn and a silence fell over the crowd as he did. He did not acknowledge the strange looks from his fellow villagers as he addressed Impa directly.

"If he finds it acceptable, I will watch over him. I will keep him safe, until the end."

Hero or not, Link should not have to face his death completely alone.

* * *

Zelda did her best to pay no mind to the flaking blood on Link's arms, the image painfully familiar from a century ago. Where he had laid dying in her arms, his blood staining her fingers and turning his blue tunic deeply red.

Zelda did her best to not let her heart ache every time a sob rekindled his weeping anew. It was like a dam of some kind had been broken within him, for every time his tears began to calm, his face would tighten, his shoulders would shake, and it would begin again.

In the darkness, she led him to Impa's home, their arms looped together. The village was unnaturally quiet, the only lights that still blazed were those from Impa's house and the Inn in the distance.

It was only a short time later that they found themselves in the loft bedroom of the house. The archives and record papers were still scattered to the floor, just where she had left them.

"Oh, sorry for the mess Link. Please, take a seat on the cot."

Zelda broke away from him to quickly gather the documents from the floor and piled them, somewhat unceremoniously, on Paya's desk in the corner of the room. In the time it had taken her to do so, Link had sat himself down, arms hugged around his chest once more as tears slowly rolled down his cheeks.

She turned her attention to the cabinet that sat just next to the cot and began rummaging in it for what she needed.

"Aha! Here we are." Zelda said triumphantly, pulling rolls of bandages, cleaning cloths, and a sickly green bottle of healing balm.

Her arms filled to the brim, she scuttled on her knees to where Link sat, carefully placing each item beside him and set to work. She poured clean water from the room's basin onto one of the cloth rags and motioned for Link to give her one of his arms.

He shook his head, trying to wipe his tears away with the heel of his hand.

"I-I can do it, i-it's ok, y-you shouldn't have to-"

She shushed him gently and pulled his nearest hand into both of her own, squeezing gently.

"It's ok, Link. I don't always have to be the Princess, just like you don't always have to be the Hero. Let me help you for once."

Zelda watched as his face tightened again, tears coming on faster once more, and continued only when he had squeezed her hand back.

She worked as quickly and gently as she could, not wanting to cause him any discomfort. She knew that would be impossible as she washed away the dried blood, cringing internally. In the full-on light of the room, she could see just how bad the damage was. While most of the self-mutilation was superficial, some were some cuts deep enough for her to clearly see the white tissue under his skin.

She said a quick prayer, looking for strength, swallowed quietly and continued.

Once his arm was cleaned of the blood, Zelda uncorked the bottle of ointment and, with unpracticed hands, began to smear it on his injuries. He jumped a little at her first touch and she paused, hoping she hadn't hurt him.

"It's c-cold." He offered, wiping his nose with the back of his free hand.

"Oh, here then, let's try this." Without further prompting, she dumped a healthy amount of ointment between her hands and rubbed them together, warming it.

She started anew and quickly formed a layer of the medicinal gunk over his arm, careful to apply a thick layer to the deepest of his cuts. As she wrapped the bandages around the worst parts of his arm, she could already see some of the smallest cuts begin to close and heal.

She silently repeated the same process on his other side, cleaning her hands on one of the unused rags once done.

"There you go. Perhaps not perfect, but that should do. Stay here just a moment, I'll find a tunic for you, alright?" She waited for him to nod in response before she stood and left the room.

She stepped lightly down the stairs, taking the opportunity to allow herself a deep yet shaky breath as she went. She knew she could not linger on her own pain, not with Link still so desperately in need of support. She took another deep breath, willing it to steady herself. She was determined to help Link and, right now, she would be no help to him as a blubbering mess. She could allow herself a time to think on what she'd seen later, but now was not that time.

With that same determination, she dug through the downstairs closet her own grey nightgown had come from, hoping that she might find something suitable for Link. It was several minutes later that she pulled, from the very back of the closet, a tunic, gray from too many washes. It was comically large as Zelda held it up to examine, but she supposed it would have to do for now.

Climbing back up the stairs, she was greeted with a slightly different sight then the one she had left. Link remained sitting in the cot, though now accompanied by the Sheikah Slate, the ancient technology clasped in his hands. She happily noted that his tears seemed to have finally subsided, though they had left his eyes blood-shot and puffy, his face splotched red and white.

"I apologize if it's a little big, it was either this or one of Impa's night gowns. I figured you might prefer this." As she spoke, his attention snapped her way and her heart ached just a little bit more. In that moment, he looked so haggard.

"Thank you." His said as he set aside the Sheikah Slate, taking the tunic from her.

He made quick work of pulling it over his head and, just as she had suspected, he could practically swim in it. The sleeves were easily six inches longer then they needed to be, the neckline hung almost three whole inches past his clavicles, and the hem hung just above his knees. She found herself smiling as he considered the too long sleeves, flopping his hands back and forth in them for a moment, making the fabric dance.

"Yep. It's definitely big." He said flatly as he tried to adjust the neckline of the tunic, to no avail.

The loud snort of laughter that immediately followed his comment was not of Zelda's conscious doing. She covered her mouth and nose, blood rushing to her face in embarrassment.

Link's attention turned to the sound, the beginnings of a smile creeping into his tear streaked face.

"Did…did you just snort?"

She shook her head as another incriminating snort of laughter erupted from behind her hands.

"I-I apologize, it was just, the way you said that was so deadpan and matter of fact-" a tiny fit of giggles over took her as the line of 'Yep. It's definitely big' played in her head again.

"Don't be sorry, it's nice to hear you laugh." His smile was small, but it was there and Zelda would make herself snort again and again if it meant keeping that smile there.

Zelda shifted her hand to cup her cheek, her face still flushed.

"Thank you, Link. I do apologize though, snorting isn't exactly the most ladylike thing I've ever done."

He shrugged and picked the Sheikah Slate once more, re-activating the screen.

"Perhaps for the Princess, but what about Zelda? Is it un-ladylike for her?"

She another shift and her hand was holding her chin in an exaggerated manner as she sat next to him on the cot, pretending to ponder his question.

"Now that you mention it, I do believe that would be perfectly acceptable for Zelda, thank you for noticing."

He answered her with his own small snort of amusement, that wonderful smile growing just the tiniest bit, his attention still glued to the Slate. She hardly had to crane her neck to tell that he was flipping through the photos he had taken during his travels, with one photo catching her eye.

"Oh, wait a moment, go back one for me please. Ah, yes, that one!" She said, pointing her finger at the screen.

The Slate showed a beautiful, shallow pool that was canopied by a flowering pink tree, the background overlooking the vastness of Hyrule field.

"I've been meaning to ask you about this picture Link. Where was this taken? This place looks beautiful."

He was quiet for a moment, his small smile faltering.

"It's, um, called Satori Mountain. There were rumors in the nearby stable that a strange creature could be spotted at the top every so often. I wanted to see it for myself."

"Well, did you find it?"

Link shook his head.

"No, but the trip was still worth it. It has one of the best views in all of Hyrule, believe it or not. One of my favorites…" He let his words trail off, touching his fingers gently to the screen.

His eyes began to glaze over ever so slightly when Zelda looped her arm with his once more, snapping him out of the ravine he was sinking himself into.

"Well, why don't we go sometime? Just the two of us. We can look for this creature you heard so much about, make something of a camping trip out of it, you know?" She kept her voice light, though her heart ached with every word she said.

She watched him as he flipped away from the Satori Mountain picture, the next showing the clearest night sky Zelda had ever seen.

"I took this at the top of the Hebra Mountains. Maybe…maybe we could make a trip out of these pictures. Just travel and go to each of these of places. You know, once I'm better." He said, offering Zelda another small smile.

She returned it as she breathed deeply, doing everything in her power to keep the pain in her heart at bay.

"That's a fantastic idea, Link."

They sat like that for a long while, going through each picture he had taken, making plans for a trip that they both knew would never happen.

But they both desperately needed some semblance of hope to hang onto. False hope though the trip was, it was hope none the less.

* * *

It's only a few hours later that Link found himself, accompanied by Dorian, back at the Inn to collect his belongings. Ollie nervously waited by the front desk and, though cordial to the duo, was notably jumpier than usual.

In all honesty, Link could not blame him. He'd had no recollection of leaving his room, let alone leaving it in the state that they found it in.

The furniture, bed, desk, and wardrobe, had either been broken, flipped, or mangled in some way. The glass of the shuttered windows were cracked, as if they had been opened too roughly, the only source of light filtering through them. Smashed glass lay below a splattering of ink on the wall, like it had been thrown against it.

 _I could make you do even worse, you know…_

With some effort, Link pushed that creeping dark voice to the back of his mind and did his best to otherwise ignore the other whispered voices around him that continued to cut one another off.

 _Some Hero you are-ruined it ruined it why did you-sing a song sing a song sing a song all day lo-why why are you like this-so stupid so stupid-bad no good no bad-_

Link knew he would be lying if he said he found ignoring such a thing easy.

They set about collecting Link's clothes and personal items, finding many of them ruined in some way or another, just like the room. His Hylian tunic bore large tears in the fabric that would take a deft sewing hand days to fix. His sleep shirt was stained with ink and blood and could never be worn again. His moneybag had been ripped open and the small fortune he had been carrying on him was scattered across the floor. Even his pack had not managed to go unscathed, with some of the smaller outer pouches having been torn away from the bag.

To his relief, there were two things his rampaging had not gotten to. The journal Zelda had gifted him, though some of its pages bent from where it lay on the ground, was intact. His Hylian trousers, oddly enough, still lay where he had left them with the small, unassuming bottle still carefully tucked into its pouch.

As they made their way out of the Inn, Link paused at the Front Desk, painfully aware of the unease in Ollie's posture.

"This should cover the damages to the room. I'm sorry to have caused you any trouble." He said, refusing to meet the Innkeeper's eyes as he placed enough rupees to cover the damages thrice over on the desk.

He was already out the door before Ollie even had the opportunity to react.

 _-he didn't want you there-scared of you scared of you they're all scared of you-why wouldn't they be you're a- bird in a tree, sing a song for me, open your mouth and go tweet tweet-you're going to hurt someone next ti-you shouldn't be-_

'I know, I get it. I'm an awful person. I don't deserve help. Now shut it!'

It was like the very thought had been a switch in one of the many shrines he'd visited. The voices suddenly stopped and Link breathed a quiet sigh of relief. So, they'd only stop if he did their abuse for them.

Fine. He could play by their rules.

In the week that followed, Link found himself falling even further, despite the helping hands around him and his own attempts at stability. His head constantly felt as if it was in a fog and he found it hard to hold his attention to one thing for too long.

Though he always had company during his time spent in Impa's home, sometimes he felt like he had never been more alone.

As the days progressed, he found it impossible to sleep at night. Every time he closed his eyes, too wide grins greeted him and razor tipped hands reached his way.

Luckily for him, Dorian never seemed to need more than an hour or two of sleep to function. Though, Link thought, perhaps he was just better at hiding his exhaustion. He stayed up with Link through the long night hours, either teaching him how to play, and cheat at, card games or simply just being an open ear.

The small bits of time he needed to sleep, Link would polish the offering statues just outside the house with Paya, Cado keeping close watch just a few feet away.

The first few days, Link was content to let Dorian remain as his shadow. As the nights begin to drag on and playing cards could not distract him, he began to talk.

"Dorian, what do you think happens when you die?"

If Dorian is taken aback by the suddenness of the question, he does not let it show on his face.

"When I was young, I was always told that death was just that. An ending. However, I much rather prefer the way my late wife thought about it. She always told me, that you should get to relive your happiest moments, again and again."

Link pondered his words, playing with the hem of his tunic.

"I think…I like that thought too." He said as voices whispered _-not like that, can't be like that, won't let it be like that-_

He did his best to ignore them.

He found that the other villagers, despite their best very best efforts, stared at him whenever he left the house. They tried to keep their conversations light, tried to not look at him with pity filled eyes, but they never did it quite well enough.

Regardless of their efforts, Link could feel their eyes on him - _thousands of eyes bearing into him, silently pleading him to help them, save them, asking him where he'd been_ \- and it always sent shivers down his spine.

"You know, Master Link, we don't have to go out when the other villagers are awake."

Dorian's voice was low, even though they now walked through the woods near Kakariko. He wanted to be outside, to feel the sun, to have it warm his face. Even in the most direct light, it warmth never seemed to creep past his neck.

"I don't want to come out only at night."

 _-you're not a monster yet-_

He still did his best to ignore those voices. As the days passed, it became harder and harder to do.

That was how most of his days went. Near sleepless nights and sun filled days.

Zelda paid him a visit every day. Both she and Paya had been transplanted to the Inn, while he and Dorian now resided in the upper room of Impa's home. She spent hours at a time talking with him, asking him about his journey, planning the trip they would never take. Every day, he could see she looked more tired, more strung out then the day before, and he knew she was not sleeping as she should.

It was on the eighth night after his evening excursion to the cemetery that Link was finally able to sleep longer than a half hour at a time. Unable to keep his eyes open, he laid himself on top of the blankets of the upstairs cot and curled onto his side. He expected to see teeth and razor tipped hands, but no such thing happened. He slept deep and soundly, not a single dream disturbing him.

When he woke up, he felt like the two weeks hadn't happened. The Blight mark on his neck was smaller, less pronounced. The affected skin was warm to the touch and his stomach growled in hunger for the first time since entering Kakariko.

Cautiously, worried to trust what this might mean for him, he kept his hopes at bay and kept what he had discovered to himself.

It was on the tenth day that he allowed a well of hope to begin bubbling in him once more. The mark was smaller, the bags under his eyes less defined, and he could taste every bit of salt and spice he had piled onto his rice and fried egg bowl.

It tasted so good he almost cried in joy. So excited was he that he asked for seconds and then thirds.

"It's wonderful to see some of your appetite has come back to you, Link." It was Impa who had spoken, he own bowl of food finished long before his.

"He was also able to sleep through the last two nights." Dorian add, sipping on a morning cup of tea.

He couldn't help the smile that spread on his face at those words and hope bubbled in his chest a little more. He dared not say it aloud, but Link felt like he might be getting better.

It's on the eleventh day that he knows this to not be true.

His morning had gone as the last two had. A full breakfast, a chat with Zelda, a game of cards with Dorian. Zelda stayed for both lunch and dinner, her face plastered with a smile nearly the entire time. He must have looked miles better than he did just a few days ago for her to look so pleased.

Energized in a way he hadn't felt in over a month, he suggested that he, Zelda, and Dorian go on a walk together after dinner.

Donning the outer layer of the Sheikah guard outfit that Dorian had lent him, they made their way out into the twilight, walking into the woods.

It was almost like the last few weeks hadn't happened at all. Goddesses, perhaps he and Zelda might be able to take that trip after all. The light faded around them as the last of the sunlight disappeared and with it, the illusion that he was getting better.

"Link, there's something on your…" Zelda let her voice trail as her finger pointed to the small sliver of exposed skin his undershirt showed.

He had to crane his neck, somewhat awkwardly, to see what she was referring to. To his surprise, there was what looked like a small, lighting shaped line, elongating and coloring his skin a near luminous purple. The pit of his stomach dropped like a stone and he immediately shed the outer layer of his outfit, turning his attention to his arms. To his horror, it wasn't just a single line that was spreading across his skin, it was dozens. Even as he watched, the lines grew, spreading and stretching and turning his skin cold with its dim, violet light.

No. No no no no! Why? He'd been feeling so good all day, what was this?!

"D-Dorian, Dorian come here please!"

It was Zelda who called for the guard. Link could barely hear her, let alone register the fear in her voice.

Numbly, he found his hands reaching to the hem of his undershirt, pulled it over his head, and stared down at his torso. A part of him wished he hadn't thought to do that.

Contrasted against the evening darkness, the glowing purple crackles along his skin had him looking like some sort of geode, ready to be broken open. His hands began to shake as he watched the lines continue to snake around his body, illuminating him more and more as they went. His quiet panic began to rise as he realized that same, dangerous glow was framing his eyes as it climbed over his face, marking his skin with its cold touch. He dimly thought that he might have been able to appreciate the beauty of the pattern, if the whole situation wasn't so alarming.

"-ink. Master Link!" His attention was broken away from the marks on his skin as Dorian snapped his fingers in his face.

"Master Link, can you hear me?" The older man asks, holding his gaze.

Link nodded numbly, shaking from head to toe as he asked, "Can you see this? Am I imagining this too?"

"Yes Link, I can see it. I don't know what it means, but I can see it. Please, let's head back-"

Dorian's words were cut off as two things happened simultaneously.

Peeking out from behind one of the surrounding hills, a blood moon rise, the vicious redness of it spreading through the once calm night sky. Link turned his attention to it, for just a moment, before he felt pain.

Red and hot and terrible, the mark on the back of his neck pulsated in time with his rising heartrate, as it dug its way deeper into him. Not just skin and bone and muscle, but dug deeper into _him,_ the very core of who he had been, was, and would be.

He cried out, the sudden agony too much to bear silently, and staggered backwards as he clutched at the ice-cold skin of his neck. His knees buckled under him and he curled inwards, trying to shrink away from the pain, but it was everywhere. It was in him, it was around him, it _was_ him.

The skin at the edge of each jagged line pulsed and stung, like it was being peeled away from his bones and meat. He imagines that his skin is being peeled back to show black muck underneath, just like his dream at the Spring, and he thought how death must be better than this. He couldn't hear anything over the roar of his blood rushing through his veins, filled with something not him, never him, had to get it out.

 _-get it out get it out get it out get it out GET IT OUT GET IT OUT-_

He didn't know when he had started trying to dig his fingernails into the skin of his neck, to tear out the freezing hot knot that had been there for weeks. He could not remember when Dorian had begun to restrain him, locking his arms above to his head and forcing his chin to his chest. He tried to struggle, tried to articulate why he needed to keep clawing his skin, but he could only scream as the pain continued on, burning and freezing every fiber of his being over and over and-

As quickly as it had started, it stopped.

The blood moon had gone and, with it, the luminous glow to Link's body and that terrible agony.

As the pain subsided, so did his energy to fight, to scream. He stilled, every muscle in his body laxing, his chest heaving as he tried to fill up his lungs with the air they so desperately needed. When had he lost his breath?

He faintly noted Dorian's arms shift and suddenly the older man is supporting him, one of Link's own arms slung over his shoulder.

"Master Link, can you hear me? Just nod if you can."

Weakly, he forces his head to move up and then down. Even that tiny movement makes everything hurt and sting and ache.

"Can you support your weight at all?"

He stared down at his feet, the appendages suddenly seemed so far away and foreign to him. Still, through the fogginess that was his mind at that moment - _close so close- be there soon-be there-be be be be-_ he found his feet and put his weight to them, surprised to find them sturdy.

"There, alright, that's good. Now walk with me, just watch my feet."

He obeyed, trying to not trip, to keep his own weight on his feet, to focus on just walking, one foot in front of the other. But even something simple like that was hard to do when voices hissed in your ears and your body didn't feel like it was your own.

Slowly, painfully, they made their way back to Impa's home and suddenly he's in his bed, exhausted and spent unable to rest.

 _-awake awake gotta stay awake Hero Hero Hero where did you go-_

He lay there as a blanket was tucked around him. He dimly wondered why there were so many shapes and faces that floated above him. A part of him knew that it couldn't be real, another knew he should be worried, the other couldn't find the energy to care.

He lay there, for how long he could not tell, focused on trying to breath, in and out. He found himself flexing his hands and toes, trying tirelessly to bring feeling back to them.

 _-no mine mine mine now can't have it back be there soon be there-_

'Enough.' Like a fire to a dark room, the thought became his beacon and he repeated it over and over and over, battling back the darkness trying to edge its way in. Like a slow trudge up an icy hill, he fought for every inch and gave none back.

Eventually, slowly, he found he could focus his eyes, found that the darkness was pushed back far enough for him to turn his attention outward.

Unfortunately, there were loud voices here too.

"-pa, I am sorry but I will not have this conversation right now! Link has been resting for two hours now and nothing has happened. There is nothing we need do tonight, so please, let's leave him be."

"Princess, we must. I understand that this is hard for you-"

"Please, do not patronize me Impa." Link could only remember Zelda's tone sounding so cold during their first few months of his knightship to her.

"That was not my intention, truly Princess it wasn't. But we _need_ to discuss the reality of Link's situation. The Blood Moon has worsened his condition tremendously. If we do not act soon Princess, it will be too late."

There was a beat of silence before Impa continued.

"He is on the verge of being consumed fully, Princess, you know this to be true. If his mind isn't already gone, it will be in a matter of hours, at best. When you first arrived, you spoke of how you sealing powers did nothing to help him. I did not push it then, but I must now-"

"Impa, please, don't ask me-"

"You must Princess, as the last of the Royal Family, you must discuss this with me. Not just for Link's sake, but for the sake of Hyrule. I have had scouts searching high and low for any signs of Calamity Ganon's continued presence, since the day it was sealed. There has not been a single sighting of a high leveled monster nor any masses of Malice. A Blood Moon rose, Princess, only because of the Blight that continues to live in Link. If we hope for peace, true peace in Hyrule, there can be no trace of Calamity Ganon left. That's why I must ask you: when you attempted to use your sealing powers on Link, what truly happened?""

A long pause followed and it took nearly all of Link's focus to keep himself zeroed in on the conversation.

"I would have killed him, Impa. I could feel it. That darkness wasn't just anchored to his body, it had wrapped itself around his very soul."

He heard a sharp intake of breath before she continued.

"When I tried to pull it to me, to seal it, my power pulled at some part of Link too. Impa, I can say with certainty that this power was never meant to be used delicately. I have no way to untangle him from it, not with this. If I were to seal the Blight, it would take him with it. Please, don't ask me to do that. Not while he's still present. Not while he is still himself."

It was almost too much for him to bear, listening to how pained she sounded.

 _-look at the pain you've caused her oh mighty Hero look at-_

'I said, enough.'

"You know we can't risk letting it succeed in fully taking him, Princess. You've read all the records pertaining to this illness that we have. You have to know what will become of him."

"I know, I know, I saw what it did to him tonight-"

"Then you understand the seriousness of this situation. You know we cannot afford for more of Ganon's Malice to spread. We simply can't."

"I know! P-please Impa, he has given so much to this world. Do not ask me to kill him. Please."

His chest ached with each anguished laced word that fell from his Princess' mouth.

"You will not be alone, Zelda. I would never ask you to take on such a terrible task by yourself. He is the Hero of Hyrule through and through, he would never hold what you must do for the sake of your duty against you-"

"Damn my duty! Damn a-all of this! Why did this have to happen to him?"

He could hear her sobs clear as day and, oh, in that moment it felt like the worst noise he had ever heard.

 _-look what you've done, look what pain you've put her through, why do you do this-_

Again, he fiercely pushed the voice back, still focused on the conversation happening beneath him.

"Oh Zelda, come now, please breath my dear. I would not ask this of you if we had any other choice. As the last of your family, you must-"

"None of t-that, I will hear n-none of it, Impa. H-he's my friend. H-he…I-I…Impa I c-can't. Ask anything else o-of me. B-but not this. Anything but t-this."

"Dry your tears, we can-"

"S-stop, just stop! Can't you see, I-Impa? I'm n-not crying because I'm the _P-Princess_ being asked to kill the _Hero_. I'm c-crying because I-I'm being a-asked to kill the p-person I love. I-I love him and you tell me I must k-kill him. That it's my d-duty even. H-how am I supposed to do anything but c-cry?"

She sobbed, the sound muffled through the floor and Link clutched a hand to his chest, his heart aching.

"Zelda-"

Zelda said nothing more, leaving the house with a loud _**slam**_ of the door as she exited. Right after, the sound of the door opening and closing again can be heard as Impa followed after her.

 _-look what you did look what you did look what you did-_

"Link."

Dorian's voice was low and even. Link pretended not to hear him.

"Link, I know you've been coherent for a while now, please don't think me a fool."

He turned his attention to his guard and sat up, firmly deciding that he would prefer the pain of being trampled what he felt like now. The blanket that had so carefully been tucked under him fell away from his chest, revealing a horrendous sight. While the glowing had stopped, the marks the Blood Moon had brought on had not disappeared. They covered him, reaching out like tree roots, to dig deeper and eepr into him.

- _won't stand a chance, we'll be there soon, we'll take you soon-_

"How are you feeling?" Dorian asks, his eyes still fixed on Link.

There a pause as Link tries to think of what to say.

"You know, I could be doing better." His voice was raspy and worn, no doubt over used from his screaming.

The look Dorian gave him was a horrible mixture of pity and pain.

 _-why would she love you why would she love you you're gonna die gonna die gonna die and she's gotta kill you-_

"I…I'm very thirsty, Dorian. Would you bring me some water?" Link asked, sitting himself further up in the cot.

Dorian nodded, rose from where he sat and made his way down the stairs. Once out of sight, Link took the Sheikah Slate from where it sat on the side table, right where Zelda had left it before they ahd left for thier walk.

As he had listened to her talk, heard the confession he knew wasn't for his ears, he had come to a silent decision. He had been the reason for her tears too many times now. She had asked him, time and again, to be a little selfish instead of selfless.

He palmed the pouch that still hung at his hip, the weight of a familiar and unassuming bottle heavy in his hand. He hoped she could forgive him for such selfishness as this.

He turned the Slate over, activating the map rune. He zoomed in once, twice, three times, homing in on the shrine he needed. He confirmed the location of travel and, just as Dorian made his return to the room, a blue light swarmed him and he was gone.


	6. His Choice

Zelda hugged herself as tears streamed down her face, her brows furrowed in anger and despair. Why? Why was this terrible thing being asked of her? Why was it Link that had to suffer time and time again for the safety of Hyrule.

The old legends had always said the Princess and the Hero had been blessed by the Goddesses themselves. Were she not busy trying to wipe her tears from her eyes, she might have offered an empty laugh at the thought.

Blessed? Did those who spoke those legends even understand the meaning of the word? She seriously doubted it.

She made quick work of walking down the stairs, ignoring the stares and half spoke questions of concerns from the villagers. They could see the tears on her face, had probably heard her yelling from in the house. There was no way they hadn't. She rounded the corner of the stairs and made her way to the edge of the small pond behind Impa's house.

She just needed a moment to think. To be alone. To be Zelda and not the Princess.

"Zelda, Princess, please wait." Impa was hot on her heels, trailing after her.

Zelda did not speak as she came to the edge of the water, her bare feet pressing into the soft earth.

"Princess-"

"Impa, please. J-just allow me a m-moment. I-" She didn't even know how to continue the thought. So she fell silent and, thankfully, Impa remained quiet as well.

The sound of the nearby waterfall, normally so relaxing to her, set her nerves on edge. She would give anything to just have everything stop, even for just a moment.

"Why does it h-have to be like this? Haven't w-we both given enough?" She posed her question to no one and nothing in specific, tears still flowing freely.

The sound of small feet shuffling closer to her reached her ears and she turned to the sound.

"You have Princess. Both of you have. Were it in my power, I would take this burden from you. From the both of you. But I do not have the power to seal darkness. I do not have a way to take the Blight from Link. Please, my dear Zelda, let's see if we can rouse Link from his stupor. Perhaps we can ask him what he needs and give you a chance to-"

Impa doesn't get the chance to finish as the front door of her home is slammed open, hurried footsteps following the sound and Dorian's voice calling for Impa.

Zelda's heart sinks even further when she notes that it was tinged with panic.

"Dorian, I am right here. What's happened?"

"Lady Impa, Master Link he-the Slate, he used the Slate and he's gone."

A lump of pure, cold panic settled in her stomach at his words and she knew.

She knew he had heard her, must have heard what was being asked of her and she knew, in her heart of hearts, that he was going to do something selfless. Like he always did.

The ethereal voices that had stayed quiet to her in the weeks since returning from Zora's Domain suddenly bubbled up from within and began to whisper to her.

They spoke of haste. Of Courage. Of a shrine.

The voices whispered and suddenly she knew where he had gone.

* * *

Link's legs gave out from under him as he materialized on the platform of the Shae Katha Shire, the Sheikah Slate clattering to the ground as he did.

He took several deep, steadying breaths. The voices had reared their heads again, perhaps aware of what he planned - _no no no not yet not yet we're close be there soon don't-_ and he struggled to push them back down.

He was almost there. Just a little further.

He staggered back to his feet, the Slate gripped in his hands once more. He waded through the knee-high water of the Spring of Courage, using the base of the Goddess statue as a means to keep himself balanced.

 _Hero, what are you doing?_

"Praying. I came to pray." He rasped out aloud to the voice, trying to keep his true intentions hidden.

 _-liar liar liar LIAR LIAR LIAR-_

He slowly approached the pedestal before the statue and, in exhausted and jagged movements, he kneeled in the water. Placing the Sheikah Slate on the flat top of the pedestal, he then clasped his hands together and prayed. It was a desperate, final attempt to appeal to something greater then himself, but he had to try. One last time he had to try.

'Please, there was something here last time I came. If anyone can hear me, please help me-'

 _There was never anything here to begin with, Hero._

 _-just us just us always us all you have we're all you ever HAD-_

Again, he forced the voices down, now only just being able to do so. He would lose himself soon. He could feel it.

He focused on the world around him. Felt the breeze of night air flutter his bangs across his forehead. Smelled the musk of the deep jungle moss. Felt the cool water brush against his back. Tasted the air as it entered his lungs, aware that each breath was numbered.

But that was all there was. Just the sounds and smells and feelings of nature. There was nothing here. Nothing that could save him from the fate that had been his to bear to moment the Malice had touched him.

He opened his eyes and let the voices swarm him once more.

He was done. There was nothing more he could do. Nothing more except…

 _-you let us win you let us win you let us-_

He lowered himself further into the water, sitting himself in the soft mud and leaned his back to the pedestal, resting his weight there.

 _-almost here almost here so close so close-_

His hands, which had shaken so badly just a few minutes earlier, were now still as stone. From where it had been sitting in its pouch for weeks, untouched until now, he drew the final elixir Madame Meeda had given him.

It was time to make this stop.

 _-you let us wi-what are you doing what are you doing stop stop STOP-_

In one fluid motion, he uncorked the bottle and drank the liquid down in a single gulp. It tasted herbal, just as his other sleeping potions had.

As he licked his dried and cracked lips, the voices roared against his mind, scrambled and enraged and panicked. A smirk found its way onto his face at the sensation. As he closed his eyes and let himself sink deep, deep into what he knew would be his final sleep, a new scene greeted him behind his closed eyes.

His bare feet burned against the hot rocks of Death Mountain. He stood at the precipice of its maw and when he glanced down, he was not greeted by the sight of burning red liquid rock. Instead, he was witness to a swirling, black mess of muck, streaked with reds and purples and grays that pulsated with a sick light. He could feel the heat of the Malice from where he stood, could feel the rot and rage and agony roll from its surface in waves.

As he stared, he can see hands begin to sneak from the mass below, fingers too long and razor tipped. He could see thousands upon thousands of glowing orange eyes that stared back at him, bearing into him with every ounce of their hatred. The Malice smiled a terrible smile, hundreds of mouths spreading too big, too wide, with teeth far, far too big for their mouths.

The hands had climbed higher and, just as they reached the edge on which he stood, he closed his eyes and waited for them to strike, to drag him down to the darkness below.

But no such thing happened.

Instead, there was suddenly a gentle hand on his shoulder. He knew then that he was in the presence of something familiar, yet alien, too old for him to understand.

He kept his eyes closed as the hand moved from his shoulder to the nape of his neck.

The touch hurt, burned icy cold for but a moment before it shifted. The sensation changed and suddenly it felt as if warmed honey had been dripped along his neck, his shoulders, into his very veins, sweet and good. He felt it push the darkness from him, felt it wash it away, like it was nothing but spilled ink being cleaned from his skin.

The feeling stopped and, as he had done instinctively so many times before, he reached a hand to his neck. What he felt or, more appropriately, what he did _not_ feel had him near tears. The skin was no longer raised, no longer cold, no longer numb and dead to his touch. All that he felt was the soft, slightly tender skin of a new scar, still in that terrible lightning pattern.

"My emissary, my dear Hero, there are many things I wish I could say to you, so many ways I want to say how proud I am of your deeds."

He knew this voice. Not in his brain or by his ears. It was something that resonated within his soul, reverberated in his heart like a lovely, long forgotten memory.

"Link, do you not recognize my voice?"

He listened more closely to the tone, to the to rise and fall of each word. Something deep and _ancient_ in him knew this. He _knew_ this voice.

But from where?

"Think, my dear emissary. You have never forgotten my name. You never had to be taught it in the first place. Now, tell me, who am I?"

The oldest of legends come to his mind, stories of the Goddesses that crafted the world- _Din, with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru, poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world. Farore, with her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold that law_ \- and he knew, almost embarrassed that her name hadn't immediately come to him.

It was then that he opened his eyes.

* * *

Impa had never seen such a look of determination in the Princess' eyes before. When Dorian had come barreling down the stairs of her home, when he had spoken of Link escape with the Slate, Zelda's tears had stilled.

Only moments after Dorian had finished telling her what he'd seen, the Princess had brushed past them, her bare feet carrying her with haste Impa had never seen from her.

"Princess, wait! Dorian, please follow after her for me."

The guard obeyed her command and chased after the young woman as she turned to the other villagers, ready to try and calm them. She had not yet addressed them, and they had all been lingering outside her house since Link had been nearly dragged back by Dorian.

She shuddered as she remembered the sight of him. Eyes half lidded and red, skin covered in dark and deep Blight Marks, she was sure he would have been lost within the first hour.

But he had persisted. It was at the middle of the second hour that she had pulled the Princess away from his side and taken her downstairs, intent to stress how precarious Link's condition was at that point.

"Lady Impa, what in the world is going on?"

"Is Master Link alive? I saw Dorian bring him back and he looked-"

"Lady Impa, what was Dorian talking about? Has Link-"

The questions died as the sound of Dorian yelling in surprise cuts through the air, shortly followed by the sound of a horse whiney.

Impa cut through the crowd that had begun to form just in time to see the Princess, atop her pure white horse, gallop out of the village on the main road.

"Lady Impa, she's released the other horses! How do we-?" Dorian called to her, the panic in his eyes un mistakable.

Impa remained silent as she watched the dirt kicked up by the Princess' horse disappear in the wind.

There was no following her. No talking her into or out of her decision, no way to ask where she was hurrying to or why.

In her heart of hearts, Impa knew this. She knew this and silently said a prayer for the two chosen by the Goddesses.

Before him, Link still saw that he was still perched on the very lip of Death Mountain. Instead of a black muck beneath him though, he now saw a swirling pool of light, the heat rising from it pleasant and gentle.

The space just to his left warms, just ever so slightly, and he knows he is still not alone. He dared not turn to face her, to look upon her, for he feared it would be too much to bear.

"My Hero, I cannot express the extent of my pride in your actions. You brought the very last of the evil bane on this world to me, to my domain. As the mother of both life and death, it never stood a chance against its death here. Thank you. From the bottom of my being, thank you."

He nodded, his eyes still transfixed to the pool below.

"I must ask my Hero, did you want to die? In your heart of hearts, were you ready to be done?"

The mantra he had said to himself at every painful junction in his journey sprung to mind.

He had to continue. There was no choice.

There had never been any other choice but to conti-

"But that was not my question. Link, this is not about what you feel you _must_ do. I am asking what do you _want_ to do. Do you want to live, or do you want to die?"

He found himself pondering the question, floored. What…what did he want to do?

"Is there a right way? A correct way to answer you?" His voice is muffled in the air, as if under water.

He can feel light roll from her as she shook what must have been her head.

"No, my Hero. We can walk down this mountain together, into your final sleep, and you will know nothing but peace. Or you can jump. You can jump into the light of the mountain and fight for your life. I have taken the Blight from you, but the poison you swallowed has begun to take a toll on your body. If you wait here for long enough, your choice will be gone, made for you, and the only way for you to go will be down the mountain. With me."

Link stared down at the swirling light below him, his thoughts racing.

He thought of all the pain he'd experienced. Of the agony his body and soul and mind had endured time and time and time again. Of the pain all living things had to endure, simply by existing.

He also thought of the way grass smelled after the rain. Of the way only the freshest apples made juice run down his chin. Of how the stars shone during the clearest nights. Of how Zelda's smile looked in the sunlight, warm and kind and comforting.

"Tell me, my Link, what do you want?"

He paused for only a moment before he knew.

He wanted to continue. He could stop, but he didn't want to.

He'd been given the choice to quit, but instead he wanted to live and breathe and run and love-

Without another thought, Link jumped forward with all his might and fell into the blinding light of the mountain, letting it swallow him up.

Zelda cursed under her breath for the umpteenth time, her bare feet in agony underneath her, her white dress getting caught in the wind as the very beginnings of sunlight hovered in the sky.

She had ridden through the night, had pushed her dear steed harder than she ever had before. He had not complained, not bucked at her once during her panicked flight. It was as if he knew the reason for her urgency, could feel the fear and cold anxiety pulsate from her very being.

When she had ridden as far as the terrain would let her, she'd dismounted and began to she run, to climb, to maneuver the remaining way to the Spring of Courage. As she came upon the Spring, the knot of anxiety that had been building in her chest unfurled as a sound met her ears. It was a wheezing gargle that could have been mistaken for a terrible snore.

She lost her footing as she ran to the edge of the spring, the white of her skirts darkening from the mud that splattered her. She cared not about the mess on her clothes, as her eyes focused on something much, much worse.

A body, one that was too familiar for her liking, lay hunched over the pedestal of the Statue of the Goddess. Another awful wheeze sounded and she stood up, trying to ignore the sudden pain in her ankle. She cursed again, this time directing her anger towards her own clumsiness.

As she approached, her worst fears became true before her eyes. Before her lay Link, slumped against the stone pedestal, that awful gargled wheeze coming from him.

She hurried as best she could to him. Using all the strength left in her, she pulled him away from the stone, hands shaking. His face was grayed and sickly looking, his eyes tightly closed. She noted, with joy blooming in her chest, that the lightning shaped lines that crossed over his body were no longer blacked and purple. They still stood out from the tone of his normal skin, but they were now a soft pink, just like the skin of a newly closed wound. Numbly, she noted that the Sheikah Slate still lay on the pedestal. Her hand, as if on instinct, grabbed it, and placed it in its holster. She had not yet removed it from the night before.

Her hands shook as she brushed the hair from his face, the ragged and labored sound of his breathing like blades to her heart, tears springing to her eyes as she watched him struggle to breathe.

If the Blight was no longer there, why was he still dying? What had he done to himself?

'… _Princess…'_

The voice is just a whisper in the wind, but her sharp ears still catch it and she knows, instinctively, who it was that spoke to her.

"G-Goddess, I n-need your help, please. I-I beg of you. M-My friend is sick, he's dying. I'm n-not strong enough to c-carry him out of here. I'm too weak on my o-own. P-please, I implore you, save him."

' _Princess, I myself cannot do anymore then what I have. The Blight is gone, but I cannot undo the poison he swallowed. His own mortal hands fed him his death, mortal hands must take it back. I cannot affect anything beyond this spring. But you, you can, Princess.'_

"T-then please, do it, h-however this needs to b-bee done. H-help me save him!"

'… _You were never meant to house a being such as myself. I can lend you my strength, but it will be a burden onto your body. Are you prepared to deal with the consequences of what you ask of me?'_

"Goddess, p-please. I w-will do anything to s-save him!"

The very air around the spring stills, just for a moment, before Zelda feels something touch her shoulder.

With that touch, Zelda felt as if every fiber of her being had suddenly expanded and contracted. Had she been able to scream, she would have, but she had no voice to use in that moment.

She knew she was in pain. She could feel the skin of her fingers and toes blister from the heat now radiating from and around her, but it felt removed. Like her body was just to her left and her mind just to her right. It was the strangest thing she had ever experienced.

She commanded her body like she would her horse, where her initial pull on the reins could not be enacted on in the same moment. She turned her attention back to the limp body in her arms and remembered why she had allowed her body to experience this in the first place.

She stood and bore Link's dead weight as if he were light as a feather. She pai no mind to the removed pain her arms expressed, nor to the aching throb in her ankle. She would not watch Link die for her sake, not now, not ever again.

' _Princess, I can take us wherever we need to for help. Tell me, where shall we go?'_

The image of water comes to her mind, of a blue bridge that glowed softly in the night, of a people with a kind and caring prince. Her thoughts turned to Zora's Domain and the open arms she knew would greet them.

"Take us to Hyrule's best healers." She said aloud, the hoarseness of her voice not going unnoticed.

Already, she knew the Goddess' presence in her body was wearing it down.

Without another word, a crack of lightning encompassed them, showering the spring with a blinding light.

As soon as it had come, it was gone and with it, the Princess and the Hero too.

* * *

Sidon had to catch himself on the nearest railing as the palace floor shook under him and stifled a surprised yelp as a cacophonous sound of crashing thunder boomed from just underneath him. As soon as it had come, the shaking and noise stopped.

As he steadied himself, wondering for the briefest moment what that possibly could have been, he heard someone scream in fright. Like a flash, he was running down the stairs from the throne room to the main plaza, eyes frantically searching for what had caused such alarm.

He need not look far.

As he descended the last few steps, he could see that an almost too bright light shone from the shrine room of the plaza. His hand on the hilt of his rapier, ever at the ready to protect his people, Sidon hurriedly rushed towards the light, just as the Royal Guards came to his side.

"Prince Sidon, sir, please return to the palace-"

Whatever the guard had to further say was lost to him as the source of the light emerged from the shrine's room.

It was Princess Zelda, as he had never seen her before.

A tangible, golden green fire surrounded her on all sides, a wind that only seemed to affect her blowing her hair and clothes about her. A part of him, something old and instinctual that had been passed down time and time again, knew who was with her. Knew whose fire surrounded the Princess, though he dare not say the Goddess' name aloud.

Her steps were slow and deliberate, as if it took everything within her power to remain upright, her arms heavy with a limp body. It was only then that he realized who it was that she was carrying.

His realization spurred him forward to meet her, his stomach in his throat. In his peripherals, he saw his people forming a semi-circle around the scene, worried whispers rising around them. He did his best to ignore the sound as he stood in front of the smaller Hylian woman.

He immediately focused his gaze on the body in her arms, cold terror slowly creeping into him at the sight.

He had never seen Link look this _bad_ before. He's fight in Vah Ruta had left him battered and bruised, but nothing like this.

His breathing was so labored it sounded more like wheezing. His lower body was caked in mud, his arms littered with still healing cuts. Heavy, dark bags tinted the underside of his eyes, his brow covered in sweat. A network of pink and red scars covered every inch of his exposed skin, snaking around him in familiar lightning pattern.

"P-Princess Zelda, what happened-?"

"Take…him." Her voice was not quite her own. Though it was hoarse, as if from extended use, he did not miss the undercurrent of a second voice speaking in tandem with the Princess'.

He followed the command, taking Link's limp form from her. His forearms brushed against the tips of her fingers and he was startled to find them almost hot enough to burn him. As he bore Link's weight and made to turn away from the Princess, he immediately found three guards rushing to him.

"Please, take him to the healers."

The three guards needed no further prompting. They carefully took Link from him, one supporting his torso, the other his legs, while the third ran ahead, cutting a path in the ever growing crowd of citizens.

As Sidon watched them leave, his attention was pulled back to the Princess as she, or really, as the Goddess spoke once more.

"Sidon, Prince of the Zora. The help you and your people have extended to the Hero will not soon be forgotten. You have my thanks."

A tightness constricted his chest as he took in the Goddess' words.

She knew him. She had said his name, had personally thanked him. It was an honor that had never, in written or oral history, been given before. Not by the likes of such a powerful being.

"Please, I must also ask that you and your people to care for the Princess as well. Acting as a conduit for me will leave her weakened. I implore you, my wonderful children, care for them on my behalf."

As quickly as the whole ordeal had begun, it was over with a flash of bright light that engulfed the entirety of the domain. As it dissipated, all that remained was the Princess, swaying precariously on her red and blistered feet.

Her eyes fluttered opened, unfocused and half lidded. She made to look around at the now thick crowd surrounding the scene, but her movements were too jerky, too unsure, to be of much use to her. She eventually turned her sights on the Prince, her face twitching to offer him a smile.

Without warning, Zelda's eyes rolled backwards as she finally lost her balance and pitched forward-

Sidon, as quickly and gently as he could, caught her just as her legs gave out. He took her limp form into his arms and quickly cut his own path through the crowd, whispers following him as he made his way to the infirmary. He would have time later to address his people's concern over what they had witness. For now, his focus lay solely in getting the Princess to helping hands.

He looked down at the young woman in his arms, trying to assess her condition. Though his knowledge of Hylian physiology was minimal at best, he knew she was unwell. Her face was scrunched into an expression of pain as beads of sweat clung to her hairline. While her skin no longer posed the threat of burning him, she still radiated what had to be an unhealthy heat. As he had noticed prior, her hands and feet were viciously red and blistered with burns, her toes and fingers bearing the worst of the damage.

He quickened his pace as an agonized whimper sounded from her ragged throat.

The Goddess Farore had asked him to personally see to it that the Princess and Hero of Hyrule were cared for.

He had no intention of letting her down.

* * *

Farore sat, as she always did, amongst the highest parts of the heavens, looking down at her children far below.

She watched as her and Nayru's emissaries were placed into helping hands. Watched as the Zora worked tirelessly to save the Hero's life as he fought tooth and nail to stay alive.

She knew he would fight. She'd known the moment she'd taken the Blight from him.

He had been pushed to a breaking point that he would fight to repair. That breaking point had allowed her to free his soul, along with Hyrule, of Ganon's influence. As much as it had hurt him to get there, to get to that awful point, it had ultimately saved Hyrule and himself.

She smiled at the sight, knowing that the Princess had chosen well to bring him there to heal.

"Farore." The voice that echoes to her right is loud and powerful and warm.

Her smile falters just the slightest as Din joins her.

"You can't keep doing nonsense like this, you know?"

Farore stays silent, much more content with looking at her creation below then listening to her sister.

"We agreed, Farore. That once the world was made, we would not interfere. That is the promise we made between us three. Why would you step in? Is it because he is _your_ emissary?"

"You know that cannot be my reason, Din."

"Then why, sister mine?"

Farore is silent for a beat, wanting to choose her words wisely.

"His soul would have been lost to the world forever, Din. There would never have been another mortal that the Master Sword would respond to, had I not done this."

"With Ganon forever gone now though, why would the world need such a Hero, Farore? Tell me that."

Farore finally broke her attention away from the realm of mortals and turned to her sister.

"Din, the world will always need a Hero. Just as it will always need a Prince-"

"What of my emissary then? Where were you when the ancient Darkness tempted him again and again and again. Why was I not allowed to step in when it turned him into a monster every time he was born into our world."

She could feel the pain roll off her sister's being, powerful, old, and awful.

Din had always been the one to feel the pain of injustice the most strongly. As was her nature, everything about her was powerful and intense. Her soul, her strength, even her grief.

Farore stood then and, gently, wrapped her arms around her sister, hugging her.

This was an argument they had had so often over the millennia that it might as well be a page from a book or a script for a play. Now though, after what Link had done for her, now Farore could start something new.

"Din, dear sister mine, you out of the three of us have always been the most sought after. By mortals and ancients alike. That darkness knew how to enthrall your emissary, just as it knew how to wound your heart. Had you stepped in to save him, all would have been for naught."

Farore felt Din rest her head to her breast, her grief still washing over her. Farore gently rubbed at her shoulders, hugging her more closely.

"But, sister dear, there is now _hope_. Hope that we have not ever seen with this world. When my emissary drank that poison, when he came so close to death that he was in my presence, I was able to take the last of that ancient darkness. I snatched it out of his very soul and crushed it in my own hands. Ganon is truly dead, my dear Din."

"Yes, and what of that? It does not undo the pain of the past now, does it?"

"Din, can you not see? With the darkness gone from Hyrule forever, your emissary can be born into it. For the first time ever, your emissary can flourish as he should, without fear of corruption. Even now, as we speak, he grows and is waiting for the day to be born."

Farore felt as Din smiled, her entire being emitting a joyous light.

"You were always the one to see the good in all things, Farore. Thank you."

The Goddesses remained for some time thereafter, embraced together in a tangle of golden light, their joy felt in the world below.

Hyrule had never seen such a sunny, perfect day as that one when the Goddesses quietly rejoiced.

* * *

When the light had swallowed him, any orientation he might have had of up or down was lost to him. So, without need for air and his golden hair making a halo around him, he began to swim.

Without rest or respite, he swam.

He had no way of knowing where he was or where he had to go. He just knew he must continue, must fight against any current or undertow.

His arms ached, his legs cramped, but he continued on.

When the light grew dimmer, he changed direction until it brightened once more. He never looked back from where he had come. When voices he knew called to him, he followed. He never followed a voice he could not place.

Eventually, as his fatigue began to slow him, as he began to fear that he could not continue, he felt hands on him, pushing him forward, pulling him out of a suddenly approaching darkness.

The first sensation he became aware of was that his body was in pain.

Every muscle was sore, every nerve was raw. He could feel that his closed eyes were thickly crusted in sleep, could feel his lips were cracked and dry. His stomach ached, a low and slow pulsating sting nausea plaguing the organ. His mouth tasted rotten and hot and knows he's been recently ill. His head pounded in tandem with his heart and he shivered as if cold, though he could feel sweat cling to his face.

Tentatively, carefully, he cracked his eyes open.

"You know, I never thought I would ever see you again Link. Even in your state now, it is very nice to see you."

He turned his head, slowly and stiffly, to the recognizable voice. Madame Meeda sat next to his bed, her hands folded in her lap.

"M…ee…da…" His voice is slurred under an impossibly dry mouth.

"Shhhh, just rest Link, just rest for now. You're not out of the woods ye-"

His eyelids, so heavy and hard to keep open in the first place, closed on him and he was swimming again.

Some of his strength seemed to have returned to him. The hands he had felt earlier were not there, but he knew they would reach out to help him when needed.

He swam for what felt like days or, perhaps, only minutes. He couldn't be sure anymore. There was no sense of time where he was, no change of night into day or even morning to afternoon.

There was just the ebb and flow of light as he moved through it, as it moved through him.

When his legs began to ache and his shoulders tighten from overuse, those hands were on him again, helping him, carrying him further and further into the depths of the light-

He awoke once more, immediately regretting it. If possible, he felt worse than he had before.

His entire being felt too heavy to bear, his stomach was burning, his skin both froze and burned under the air around him. It was agony to breathe, his lungs screamed in pain with each pull of breath.

He felt his brow stitch together in pain as the sound of voices washed over him. He dimly wished they would lower their volume, his head was pounding.

"…stop…" He managed, his voice hoarse and low.

To his surprise, the voices did stop and then began again, their volume considerably lower.

"Link, Link can you hear me my friend?"

His eyes were too heavy, too welded shut with crust and gunk, to even consider trying to open. But he knew this voice.

"…S…idon…"

"Yes, that's right Link. I'm here for you, my friend."

A feeling from a memory came to his mind at that moment. Small hands pulling him into the owner's lap, those same hands lifting him, carrying him through a crack of power and lightning.

"…where's…Zelda…?"

There was a pause, a beat, before Sidon spoke again.

"Link, my friend, the Princess is-"

Again, he is sinking into that light and his swimming begins anew. He is stronger than he has ever been here, in this place. He swims and swims, no longer tiring, the thought of rest never crossing his mind.

There comes a moment when, even though he knows he is not in danger of stopping, those hands are on him once more. They rush him through the light, pulled him faster and faster to something he felt must be the end of this trial-

When he awakens again, he finds himself relatively comfortable. Though his body was still so heavy, it does not hurt to breathe. His head does not pound in tandem with his heart. His body does not shake, his skin does not burn or freeze from just the feeling of the air around him.

When he opened his eyes, he finds that he can do so with relative ease. The crust has been brushed away and the heaviness was gone.

He blinked several times, clearing his vision, and looked at his surroundings, recognizing where he was. The blue stone of Zora's Domain was a dead giveaway, the soft light they immitted in the darkness of the night casting a beautiful glow on everything he saw. The bed he lay in was large, far too large for someone his size.

He turned his attention to his left and is greeted by a familiar face.

Zelda sat in a chair, her arms crossed and leaning on the bed, her head rested in the crook of an elbow. Her long hair lay in a plait down her back and her shoulders rose and fell slowly, sound asleep. He turned his attention to the hand closest to him, noting with a certain amount of concern that it was heavily bandaged.

Unconsciously, he reached a hand out to her, and rested his fingers gently on the top of her hand. His touch, light though it was, seemed to stir her. Zelda rubbed her face against her forearms, yawning as she did so, before she peeked her eyes over her arms, looking at him.

"I had a feeling you might wake up tonight." She said, her own voice painfully hoarse.

He swallowed past the lump in his throat as image after image, memory after memory, flooded his mind. He recalled the spring, the sound of the Blight screaming in his ears. He remembers the feel of a small bottle in hand, remembers drinking down its contents. He can hear the voice of Goddess Farore, can feel her take the Blight from him. He remembered the choice she gave him.

He remembers jumping.

"…what happened…to you?" He said this softly, gently tapping his fingers against her hand.

She smiled at him, flipped her hand over, and gently took his hand into her own.

"Later. I'll tell you all about it later Link. You've been in and out of it for over a week now. Just…please, let me rest here with you."

He squeezed her hand tenderly and pulled it closer to himself.

"…lie down…more comfortable…that way…"

She only offered him a smile before clambering into the too large bed, tucking herself into the crook of his shoulder. He, in turn, rested his face against the crown of her head, placing a soft and weak kiss against it.

As he fell back into a deep and restful sleep, he whispered three words to her. He could feel he smile more then he could see it, when she answered back with those same three words.

When Madame Meeda came in several hours later, she smiled at the sight she came upon and saw the two saviors of Hyrule, as they truly were.

Not as the Princess and the Hero.

But as Zelda and Link.


	7. Safe

For generations, the Zora would find themselves speaking of the day their domain was visited by a Goddess. Those who were present would treat the memory with a certain reverence, talk about the sensation of just _knowing_ who they were in the presence of, in hushed tones. They would pass it down the story down to their children and the children would pass it down to theirs and so on and so forth.

Even when enough time had passed for the tale to turn into legend, the pool surrounding the Ne'ez Yohma Shrine glittered with an ethereal light and always would. Anyone who dared wade in its waters would find any pain in their bodies healed, their broken bones mended by the following morning, their energy restored.

All of this, the grandness of being visited by Farore herself, was overshadowed by the Zora people's concern for the Hero of Hyrule.

The same individuals who would later pass the story down the generations were the first to tell others of what they'd seen of the Hero when he and the Princess had arrived, bathed in light. Ragged breaths and sickly colored skin covered in a network of new scars. The Princess, having been possessed by a Goddess, had not looked much better when Prince Sidon had carried her off.

By the evening of that same day, the entirety of Domain feared that the Hero and the might not make it through the night.

Their beloved Prince had addressed them shortly after sundown, at the height of their worried whispering.

He spoke of the skill in their healers, spoke about how the Princess would be alright with a few days rest.

When someone in the crowd questioned about the Hero's condition, the look of concern could not be missed on the Prince's face.

"The Hero remains alive and with us. He is ill, very ill indeed. In the coming days, should anything change, for better or worse, I will be sure to let you know."

So, with bated breath, they waited and they prayed for the Hero.

While the quick work of Madame Meeda and her healers had certainly saved Link's life, his body was still damaged. Both from the weeks of strain the Blight had placed on him and the poison itself.

The first few days after he was deemed no longer in danger of passing at any moment, he found himself sleeping most of the time. With his body no longer fighting against itself, it desperately needed rest. Thankfully, Link found his rest empty of any dreams.

He would eventually find that his body would no longer stomach certain foods, much to his dismay. Spicy peppers would have him laid up in bed for days at a time. Foods heavily seasoned with herbs, especially those that smelled or tasted too much like the poison, nauseated him instantly. Certain meats became like a roulette for him; sometimes he ate them and was fine. Other times, he'd be in the restroom for hours after eating. But, with time, he would adjust.

During his first wash while in the infirmary, he could finally see the extent of the Blight's influence had left behind. He found, with a certain amount of shock, that he was covered in lightning shaped scars. From head to toe, they wrapped around him in every way possible. He lightly traced his fingers along them, following them up to his throat, his chin, his cheeks, even his ears. He would find that they would never fade from that deep pink, would never lighten enough to truly match his skin tone. It would always be a reminder of his second brush with death.

During his first week truly awake and lucid, Madame Meeda personally stopped in to see him twice a day. In his heart of hearts, he knew that the elderly Zora must have felt partially responsible for his condition.

That suspicion was confirmed the fourth week into his stay.

As she had every day, she was checking on his progress, checking on his level of pain, noting any progression or change she saw. She was part way through checking the range of motion in his arms when she suddenly spoke.

"I need you to know how sorry I am Link. For not helping you more."

He'd lowered his arms, waiting for her to continue. When she did not, he spoke, his voice still weak, despite the weeks of rest.

"You did all you could for me. I know that, Madame Meeda."

She shook her head slowly as he spoke, her eyes not meeting his.

"I gave up on you too early, I didn't see this through the way I should have. I could have done so much more then to bottle your death for you and send you on your way."

Slowly, he took her hands into his own, squeezing them gently.

"You said it yourself. Before me, no one had ever survived the Blight. There was no way for you to know my fate would have been any different. You did what you could with the tools and information you had."

It was then that she had had met his eyes, a smile on her face as she squeezed his hands back.

"Well, no one can say you aren't a man of your word. Didn't you tell me that you'd be the first? Look at you now, Mr. Hero."

They shared a smile and Meeda knew there had never been anything to ask forgiveness for in the first place.

It would be another two months before Link was strong enough to even consider leaving Zora's Domain.

Through all of this, Zelda was with him every single day. He quickly learned the reason for the heavy bandages on her hands and feet.

She told him herself about how the Goddess had spoken to her, had possessed her, had burnt her extremities from the inside out. Her burns would heal, though the scars would remain there for the entirety of her life and never regain feeling in the tips of her fingers.

In turn, Link told her about his dying dream, of the choice Farore had given him. He told her about the pool of light, of how he swam through it, despite the endlessness of it.

They shared these wonderful, terrible experiences with one another, for who else could understand how beautiful and sad and vast it was to be touched by divinity. They trembled as they spoke, even when they gently held each other's hands, trying to provide some comfort.

As he healed and grew stronger with each day, an increasing amount of people came to visit him. The first, outside of Zelda, the infirmary staff, and Prince Sidon, was Lady Impa and Dorian. He came to learn, after some coaxing on his part, that the Prince had sent word of his and Zelda's arrival only an hour after they had arrived. They had made their way as quickly as they could, though given Impa's advanced age, the going had been extremely slow.

Upon seeing him, Dorian immediately approached his bed and pulled Link into a tight hug.

"I am so happy to see you alive, Link." These were the only words Dorian offered him, but they carried everything that needed to be said.

His memories of the weeks spent in Kakariko are clouded by lack of sleep and buzzing, terrible voices in his head, but he remembers Dorian's help clear as day. From staying up every night with him, to teaching him to play cards, to stopping him from clawing at the back of his own neck, Link remembered.

Link returned the hug gladly, his heart filled with gratitude.

When he grew strong enough to walk unassisted, he insisted on trying to make short lap around the walkway that encircled the infirmary.

"My friend, you may not realize this, but my people have become…invested, in your recovery." Sidon had warned him as he led the way down the infirmary halls, mindful of his speed.

Though Link was capable of movement, both the Blight and the extended bed rest had atrophied much of his muscles, leaving him to tire easily.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Sidon." He said, mindful to keep his pace slow and breathing even.

If the Prince had eyebrows, Link had the distinct feeling that one would have been raised at him.

"It'll be fine." Link said again, now trying to convince himself more than Sidon.

For the most part, he had been correct. It was still early in the morning when they made their way outside, the brisk morning air sending a chill down his spine.

They walked slowly, deliberately, Link being mindful of his footing. The first time he had stood up, he hadn't been prepared for the wave of dizziness nor sudden weakness in his knees. He'd been very lucky that he had fallen backwards onto his bed and not forward to the floor.

They were about halfway around the walkway when Link became aware that this was, in fact, not going to be ok.

A young Zora, perhaps out on some sort of early morning errand, spotted them. As soon as they had, they let out an excited yell as they waved at them.

"Mr. Hero, Mr. Hero! Hey, over here!"

Link waved back slowly, suddenly unsure of himself and the decision to take this walk.

It wasn't before long that the walkway, so empty and quiet, was bustling with Zora's of all ages and sizes, trying to see him, to shake his hand, to congratulate him on his recovery, to offer advice on how to build up muscle again. Link couldn't get a word in edge wise, couldn't move forward. His legs had started to grow weak under him and he wouldn't be able to hold himself up for much longer.

As if Sidon could read his thoughts, Link found two large hands under his armpits, pulling him up and away from the crowd. He was seated on Sidon's left shoulder and his hands instinctively went to the fin on the top of his head, holding himself steady with it.

"I do apologize everyone, but we really must be getting on our way. Thank you so much for your well wishes and kind words."

Without another word, Sidon cut a path through the crowd and made short work of reentering the infirmary, mindful of Link's added height at the door ways.

"Thank you." Is the only thing Link can offer, suddenly weak and tired from the excitement.

"Anytime, my friend."

By the time Link was healthy enough to travel, the entirety of Zora's Domain had come to treat him just as they would on of their own. While extremely moved by the compassion and love the Zora people had shown him, he was nearly overwhelmed by the constant well wishes and well-meaning advice.

Kakariko was a sight for sore eyes by the time he made it back.

It was almost nine months to the day of Link and Zelda's abrupt arrival into Zora's Domain that Link received a letter. It was from Hudson, much to his surprise.

He was further surprised by the news the letter brought with it. Hudson and his beautiful Gerudo wife, Rhodson, had welcomed their first child into the world.

A little boy, with flaming red hair and dark skin like his mother. Hudson wrote of his son bearing the strangest birthmark on the back of his hand. He described it as almost looking like the Triforce.

The letter invited him to visit Tarrey Town in a month's time to celebrate the birth. He had immediately penned back, assuring Hudson that he would be there and, if it would be ok, could the Princess come too?

Hudson's next letter was just a series of exclamations and assurances that, yes, o _f course_ the Princess of Hyrule could attend if she so wished.

So, with two weeks until the party, Link, Zelda, Dorian and Paya set out Terry Town. Though, Link and Zelda demanded that they make a small detour.

They reached Satori Mountain in good time, and knowing the importance of this place, Dorian and Paya stayed at the base to set up camp for the night.

Climbing up the last bit of the cliff side, Link let himself lay on the ground, arms over his head, breathing heavy.

"I told you we could have rested at the last ledge a little longer." Zelda said, crouching over him.

"…I'm…too…impatient…" He huffed, wiping the sweat from his forehead. While so much stronger than he had been months ago, Link would never have the stamina he once did. The Blight had stolen it from him and the poison had damaged him enough that he would never fully recover that loss.

Zelda snorted and shook her head at him, playfully tickling his nose with the ends of her hair.

He weakly batted the locks away from him, his face pulled into an exaggerated frown.

"Quit it."

"As you wish, Mr. Hero." She said as she stood, mock bowing to him.

He took one, final deep breath of air and slowly got to his feet, rejoining Zelda.

"So, where's this spring I saw the pic-"

She need not finish he sentence as the very top of a pink, blossoming tree came into view. As they walked closer, the full tree came into view and, with it, the spring. Just as he had remembered, the spring was still edged in long grass and clusters of Silent Princess. Fallen pink flower petals clung to the surface of the water, floating peacefully.

This spot really did have the best view of Hyrule field, no doubt about it.

"It's beautiful." Zelda said under her breath.

Link turned his attention to her, taking in how the sunset framed her face just so, watched as her mouth curled into a smile. The same smile he had fought so hard all those months ago to see again.

He let his own features upturn into a grin as he took her hand into his, lacing their fingers together in a smooth motion that had become second nature to him.

"Much nicer in person, isn't it?" He asked, squeezing her hand.

Her smile widened as she squeezed back.

"Yes, it is. Your photo didn't do this place justice."

They stood their together and enjoyed the sights around them, the Princess and the Hero hand in hand.

Hyrule was safe and so were they.


End file.
